Making a caged bird sing

Being the slacker parents that we are, Liam has never owned a pair of rubber boots. He wasn't walking last spring, they're hardly needed over the summer, and we've been talking about getting him some for the past month, but not doing much about it. Partly, my excuse has been that we haven't been anywhere shopping lately (that small-town excuse again). And partly, really small boots are just hard to find. (I did see an adorable pair of frog boots and matching slicker when we were in Banff, but I am not so good a judge of size to have risked buying them there and not been able to return them.) The guilt has been eating at me though, especially seeing as Liam has been trying to jump in puddles on our after-dinner walks for some time now, and I'm constantly holding him back. Anyway... it poured rain all day today, once again making me feel guilty for not having boots for Liam... so at lunch Chad and I ran over to a nearby department store to take a look. And we found some. Not fancy, but considering that he'll only wear them for a month before the snow flies and then they likely won't fit next spring... it doesn't really matter. When I picked Liam up from Cindy's tonight I mentioned that we had found Liam some boots, and she said she thought he would love them - because he admires the other kids' boots so much. She also said he'd had a bad day, constantly running to the door to get his shoes and to look outside - not understanding why they couldn't go out. When we got home and showed Liam his boots he was thrilled, and even though it was still sopping wet after dinner, I couldn't hold out. We got Liam into his rain jacket and boots and went for a walk down the street. I have never seen Liam so happy - screaming with glee and jumping in every puddle we passed. It was hilarious and touching and the cutest thing ever - and so, so worth the $8.97 it took to make it happen.