Saturday, January 26, 2008

Shoe String Shenanigans

I know I have posted this story once already, but there are several of you that are new readers of mine since I originally posted this, so I am re posting. (Wow! what a long rambling sentence. OK, it can stay.) Plus, I have had a boring day, so I don't have much else to write about. I did take the boys shopping today, and you would have thought that this would have been plenty to write about, but surprisingly, they were wonderful, well behaved boys. Either that or it was the Prozac I took before we embarked on our journey. Either way, we shopped until I ran out of money. (Which didn't take that long.) We went and ate Italian( my favorite). They always order Calamari, and I usually get lasagna. And then we came home and all of us painted. They even cleaned up their own mess.
The following story is an original of mine. My son, Forrest, for the first time has a pair of shoes with shoestrings. I usually buy them with Velcro straps. I have been trying to teach him to tie his own shoes, unfortunately, I am not as patient as the mom in the story. His shoes are untied all of the time. ARRRGH! I hope you enjoy the story.


“Shoe String Shenanigans”

The following is a tale about Boy One and Boy Two,
Who never did learn how to tie their own shoes?
Boy One and Boy Two was a couple of brothers,
And the lack of their learning was the fault of their mother.
Their mother was busy with cleaning and chores,
like folding the laundry that reached from ceiling to floor.
So I’m not saying their mother was bad,
‘cause they could have been taught by their good ol’ dad.
But dad was always busy with work and the lawn,
and when he tried to teach them he’d begin to yawn.
So shoes with no shoe strings is what they got.
Yes, shoes with no shoe strings they helped out a lot.
But the problem began when they started to school,
And shoes required shoe strings, yes, that was the rule.
So off to the shoe store went father and mother
to buy shoes with shoe strings for the two brothers.
And they fumbled and bumbled with those nasty long strings.
Tying their shoes was a terrible thing.
For days and days they tried teaching each another.
Boy One helped Boy Two and Boy two helped his brother.
But since they had never officially been taught,
Well the laces they ended in one giant knot.
The knot was so big, it would not come untied.
Why, I believe that the knot may have reached the sky.
Finally the laces could be knotted no more.
Knots so big the shoes would not fit through the door.
And the brothers well, they both began to cry,
“Why Mother, why, why, why.”
“Please take the time to show us how,
to tie our own shoe strings, we must know now.
For we do not like them all tied up in knots.
No, we do not like it, we like it not.
You must teach us, please do not delay.
You must teach us, Mother, it must be today.”
So their mother put aside all of her chores,
She put off doing the laundry galore.
She sat down beside Boy One and Boy Two
and patiently she taught them to tie their own shoes.

2 comments:

Kookaburra said...

Hi Cecile,

Thank you for this wonderful post :) It reminded me of how we taught Helen to tie her laces. I remember that we we got a card with a punched holes in it and a diagram ( kind of like a shoelace tying template ) from a shoe store when Helen was about three. Unfortunatley these days Helen leaves the laces tied up.
I reckon the reason youngsters find it difficult is something to do with co-ordination and dexterity of little fingers. Even now I still make two loops and then knot them.

Cece said...

Yeah well out of shear laziness, I tie mine once when I get them into a double or cowboy knott and then I just slip them on and off. I can go for months without having to retie my shoes.