I'm not a shoe person. i only have 2 pairs of shoes which i really consider mine, one is a hiking shoe (which is as historical as it could be, i bought it at rockport in greenbelt while the magdalo soldiers are preparing for their great uprising a block away and myself and my sister knowing about it 2 hours later while inside the cinema watching "Miranda" -- starring christina ricci -- through a text sent by my father who was in Iloilo) and the other one is a running shoe (a 3-year old running shoe that needs replacement). Similarly, gogol isn't raised to be a shoe guy, although that seems to be far from happening as the shoe-rack corner appears to be one of his favorite spots in our 6x10 apartment, next to "under the table". The moment he wakes up he'll usually get hold of any of his shoes, signaling that he wants to get some fresh morning air outside. or maybe have some morning gibberish with his girlfriend from door 4.
He would also be as kuripot as his parents.
The first walking shoes.
when gogol was just learning to walk we never required him to put on shoe when he's in side the house. that way, they said, the child learns how to balance properly since nothing intervenes between his feet and the ground. That's as organic as you could get. Gogol used this pair of shoes when he practiced walking outside, in the driveway of our apartment at 10 months. this time, at 18 months and an expert at walking, he would never even bother to put on shoes when he rushes out (usually to greet the ambulant vendor of puto or baye-baye).I try not to be a stage mom as possible but my siblings and my husband could not help laughing every time gogol takes this out from our improvised shoe rack. Yes, that's (worn-out) 3m bandages you see.
The Aldeguer sandals.
While hunting for a really cheap pair of ecru/beige (no, no not white, and not open toed, as the the guideline saud) graduation shoes in aldeguer street i chanced upon this kiddie open toed sandals. very cheap. a jollibee value meal is even more expensive compared to this. and it looks comfortable for the restless feet of my then 14-month old gogol. i immediately bought one for him. when he tried it, it's half an inch smaller. but he liked it a lot. fearing that bantay bata 163 would punish us for foot-binding gogol, we left the straps unstrapped and off the baby goes to the driveway with his sandal straps flapping like goofy's ears.
all star.
his grandfather said he looks like george harrison if he has this on. we hadn't seen a baby his age (then 11 months) wearing green all star hi-cut sneakers. he looked like a rad boy with this pair on. there isn't much story on this shoes except that it was a gift from his aunt when she went to arizona for a job training. he wasn't as hyper active then.
Spiderman shoes.
gogol was also given a pair spiderman shoes that were so thickly padded he could hardly walk in them. the size was just right though. however, by the looks of it, i don't think they were made for walking babies. the shoes was sent by his lola from the US so i suppose they were intentionally made for big caucasian babies who are certainly not in their walking stage. gogol rarely use them. in fact, we only put this on him when we want to turn him into a clown.
I am Spartan.
his other lola also bought him these greek-like sandals from a trade fair. maybe it's form marikina. i'm not so sure. but it's way cheaper than the first sandals i bought but wearing them instantly turn gogol into a greek god with a big, fat belly. this is the one he always use for walking around the apartment driveway. or spending his hyper-active afternoon with similarly hyper active friends from the other units.
Cars, his latest fave.
in may of this year his lola (the same lola who sent him the spiderman shoes) again sent him character shoes, this time from the movie Cars. this has become so far his well-loved shoes and is a symbol of "lagalag time". this is the one he takes out of the shoe rack and give to anybody available when he wants to go out of the house. when he dons this on, sockless, in his shorts and tee shirt, he looks like "naputo nga intsik".
Gogol is bound to have more shoes than his parents. he also has a white hi-cut osh kosh sent by his grandma (the spiderman shoe grandma) together with the cars shoes. and his other grandma (the spartan sandal grandma) also bought him batman slippers. i bought him cheap rubber slippers in my hometown's market (at a price of mcfloat, sold by a 10 year old kid maybe being subjected to child labor). so.
and for the last words, here is gogol
(with a pillow on his back since he was a ninja turtle that day but he was annoyed and didn't want to be a ninja turtle so all the time the pillow was there he was agitated, irritable and threw tantrums):
A M E N.
