Shoes and Sweaters

I sometimes wonder who affects who more between the kids and myself. This week I have twice had to remove a sweater because I was wearing it wrong. One time it was backwards, the other time it was inside out. The adjustments are easily made, and I am far enough from those awkward teenage years that making those adjustments on buses or in restaurants doesn’t cause embarrassment. But both times I have been with Lindsay. I wonder if she weren’t there whether I would have even noticed the problem.

At the same time, I am consistently asked for advice about which shoe should go on which foot by some of the children. Maybe they’d be less likely to ask me if they saw me with my sweater on backwards. It’s a daily trial for them. I wonder how long it takes for one to be able to differentiate between a right shoe and a left one. One small boy who I often have to help tells me that his outdoor shoes are purple. He has also demonstrated that he understands that he has two shoes. Yet, he doesn’t know which is left and which is right. Every day, these children gamble that the shoe they have chosen to put on their right foot is indeed their right shoe. It’s a 50/50 chance. I’m actually surprised that they don’t get it right more often.

Sometimes it happens that they are more interested in the events around them that I have to help them concentrate. I have given up helping a 2 year old named Kurtis because he came to be dependent on me helping him with his shoes. I should say that I have given up putting his shoes on for him; I still help him indirectly. For instance, I will try to use my hands as blinders to force him to look at his shoes. Sometimes I will put his hand on his shoe and then put the opening of his shoe on his toes. 15 minutes later I’ll come back, and he’ll have put his shoes on the wrong feet. I won’t fix it for him though. That’s just what he wants. Usually one of the maintenance staff gets impatient watching him and puts his shoes on properly for him.
After months of this same routine, I am amazed that he still can’t put his shoes on unsupervised. I haven’t influenced him at all.

However, now I can’t put my sweaters on properly.