wide load.

i'm referring to these:

my son has w-i-d-e feet.  when he was in the nursery (for children 1 and under) at daycare they were not required to wear shoes.  of course when he was a baby i paid way too much for the cutest shoes and he would just lay there.  then james started to move and shoes would not stay on him.  he would take them off and the teachers would never put them back on.  now that we've moved up to the big boy daycare, he must wear shoes.  i love it!  but i've spent so much money on shoes that just don't fit.  they seem to squeeze and i imagine they would just be super uncomfortable.  so, with some internet research, i found that new balance makes some wide tennis shoes for toddlers.  the one thing i really enjoy about purchasing things online is that you can read reviews.  i love it when an item i'm interested in has sizing reviews.  so, i read the reviews on these shoes and the parents loved them and made them sound super wide and like their kids instantly started tap dancing once they were put upon their feet.  james needed some magical tennis shoes too!
i ordered the wide.  they came in the mail courtesy of zappos in 24 hours and we were stoked.  until... we put them on and they barely (barely!!) fit.  the velcro barely fastened.  bummer.  luckily, new balance makes an EXTRA wide version of this shoe so we ordered them the very next day and they fit!!!  victory!!  i finally have found a shoe that seems to be comfortable.  these might just be the first pair of shoes that james actually wears out.  finally - money well spent. 
since we have tried many, many shoes with no avail we will be ordering several colors of this shoe.  good thing we think they are stinkin' cute.  no pun intended.  james does have stinky feet though.  phew!  he wore out some sandals due to odor.  thank heavens its sock season!