In May we purchased Cortlynn's first pair of pointe shoes. Fast forward a short 6 months later-she tells me that she needs new ones because they are too small. ;-( I scheduled an appointment and I took her in the other night. This time I took her to a women in Pocatello not Idaho Falls and WOW-she sure know what she was talking about. She discovered that they weren't too small---but the pads were causing her toes to curl, in turn causing the pain and blisters. Sheila (the pointe shoe master) showed us what toe spacers we needed to purchase, which pads to purchase, and how to tape her toes together (yes-together) so the shoes will fit properly. Amazingly--this worked and Cortlynn was a new dancer. We hope that this will work for the next few weeks or at least long enough to make it thru all the Nutcracker performances. Sheila and I told Cortlynn that if her feet grow before the end of December, we will shave her toes down.
For a brief moment a few months ago I thought maybe I could work in a dance shoe store or even have my own; after this visit that would be a definite NO. Sheila took the time to clip Cortlynn's toe nails (GROSS), worked and massaged her calluses (double GROSS), and than soaked her feet for 20 minutes, and rubbed them with a cotton towel. NASTY! Cortlynn started to laugh and Sheila apologized for tickling her feet. Cortlynn told her that she wasn't tickling her, she was laughing because I was standing behind her making gagging faces. I could never to this to peoples feet especially dancers feet that have funky calluses, blisters, and other things going on. I don't like my own feet----Anyone that needs pointe shoes, I recommend Sheila at the Pointe Shop. She's great!
On another note: My children LOVE music and will sing and dance to everything. Kyra being 23 months is no exception. Her new favorite is "Gangham Style". Yep-she actually does the horse trot thing and sings. It is HILARIOUS!!!!! Driving down the road with my three children is such a riot and for people looking in-they probably wonder what is going on.
