Laces

When I went to bed last night, I knew this was going to be today's picture. At that point, I had planned to title this post, "The Death of Me." This morning, though, there is a bit more hope for this little book.

Tuesday, Issa came home from school with this seemingly innocent little book. They are working on learning to tie their shoes, and it was Issa's turn to borrow the book for a week. I was thrilled! We tried to learn a few months ago; it was a disaster. I tried every trick in the book: different colored laces, songs, poems. Nothing worked. Then we got Velcro shoes and I breathed a sigh of relief and decided to learn this another day...many, many days from them. Even when her new shoes came with laces, I gladly tied them myself.

Tuesday, we read the story, and terror struck. This seemingly innocent book ties shoes in a bizarre way that I do not. Of course, the book is "right" in Issa's little head. I tried just changing the words to the story, but my words didn't match the diagrams. She caught me. I tried making up a new song for my way to the tune of "The Hokey Pokey." No dice. So..I had to teach myself how to tie my shoes correctly, which took about twenty minutes. (It was really bizarre!) Two nights of pure frustration for all involved.

Then...a miracle happened. Issa almost tied this "shoe" last night! And...she really tied both of her shoes this morning! Hurrah! Maybe the book isn't so evil after all.