One of Parker's favorite activities is to walk around in mommy or daddy's shoes. Literally! He especially loves walking in our flip flops. I had asked him on multiple occasions if he wanted a pair of flip flops and he would always say yes. While grocery shopping in Wal-Mart on Saturday I wandered over to the toddler shoe aisle with hopes of finding a pair of flip flops for Parker. Either none of the sizes fit correctly or they were just plain ugly (as in neon green). Luckily he didn't break down crying when we left the shoe aisle without a pair of flip flops in the shopping basket.
Yesterday we went to Old Navy because I just knew they would have a pair of flip flops that would fit him well. I was right! Parker was over the moon at the sight of the whole wall of flip flops! After trying on the pair that fit, I asked him if he wanted to wear them or put his sandals back on. His response was a joyful, "yes!" All day long he would proudly look down at his feet and exclaim, "flip flop"!
Last night, as soon as he got out of the bathtub, he was asking for his flip flops. I explained to him that he couldn't wear his flip flops because he had to put his jammies on, but I assured him that he could wear them when he woke up the next morning.
This morning when I heard him calling my name on the monitor, I went and rescued him from his crib. I took him to my room and sat down on my bed with him and asked him if he wanted to lay down on mommy's bed. He said no, which is rare. He then proceeded to get down off of my lap and he went and sat on his alphabet train. Thinking he was content, I went back into my bathroom to finish fixing my hair. Next thing I knew I could hear Parker talking. I poked my head into my room to see what he was doing (since his dad was still sound asleep!) but he was nowhere to be found. I then realized that I was hearing him over the monitor that I still had in the bathroom. He had gone into his room (which had the door shut, because his cousin was sound asleep on his bedroom floor) and as I approached his room, he came running out the door with two objects in his hands: his flip flops! Apparently he remembered that he could wear them in the morning (the memory of a 2 year old never ceases to amaze me)!
He tried to immediately put them on, but I told him he had to take his jammies off, first. He hesitated a second (this is usually a morning routine battle), said "OK", and immediately began taking his jammies off. Once he was down to his (saggy) diaper he sat down and put his flip flops on. I tried to help, but he stubbornly yelled, "I do it!" when I tried to lend a hand. And, he did just that. I would have taken a picture then and there, but then he began saying he wanted a shirt, and I was afraid if I took the time to search for my camera, the saggy diaper would be whipped off and I would have a large puddle of pee somewhere other than inside the toilet.
Off we went for Parker to go pee-pee in the potty wearing only his shirt and flip flops! Shortly after I finished getting him dressed, I snapped this picture of him sporting his new flip flops. Now I'm starting to think I should have bought more than one pair!