It's Not Like They're Jimmy Choos

Linus may not have many words in his vocabulary but he manages to communicate just fine.

We were leaving Target, and Linus began fussing. I ignored it, assuming it was just a carseat avoidance technique. As I opened the car door, the fussing escalated and combined with some very vigorous pointing. Following his finger, it seemed to me that he was just pointing back at Target, so I responded, "No, we're going home. We're going to see Daddy." His level of agitation increased again and the pointing was accompanied by a very emphatic repetition of "Dat, dat, dat." Thinking all this very bizarre and fearful that toddler tantrums were now upon us, I moved even faster to get him inside the car and away from gawking eyes.

It was just at the moment when it seemed all hysteria was about to break lose, that Linus reaches out to his left foot, raises it in the air, and says, "DAT!" Low and behold, his shoe had fallen off. A quick scan of the surrounding area led to its retrieval by the cart return. It must have fallen off when I pulled him out. Once the shoe was returned to its proper owner, all was well with the world.

This kid really loves his shoes.