It couldn't have been three days ago that Isaac emphatically requested new "light shoes." For those of you who don't know, he's asking for those annoying shoes that light up each time a step is taken. He had a pair of hand-me-downs from Emily several months ago but had grown out of them (only one shoe lit up, but it didn't seem to bother him). Now, the boy is not barefoot. He's got three or four perfectly good pair of shoes plus rainboots that he likes to wear when he rides his bike. I patiently told him that next time he needed shoes, we'd look for some.

Today at my regular Thursday playgroup in blustery Burbank (there was NO wind here in Pasadena) one of the gals brought a bag of clothes her kids had outgrown for Isaac and Audrey. I thankfully accepted the goodies knowing she's adept at thrift shopping and wouldn't pass along junk. When we got to the car I lifted a layer of clothes to discover a pair of tennis shoes that would fit Isaac. I gleefully showed them to him as he likes to wear "speed shoes" but the true joy was only known once we arrived at home. You guessed it -- they light up. He couldn't be happier. I couldn't either. Sometimes the simplest gestures mean so very much.