Monday, June 13, 2011

Squeak-tastic...?!

This weekend my parents came to visit me in Chicago. We made our way around much of the city between Friday and Sunday, hitting The Bean (aka Cloud Gate), Navy Pier and the Art Institute. While at the art museum taking in the beauty of Seurat's Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte, I heard what sounded like a dog toy. Now, after dozens of field trips in elementary, middle and high school to museums I know a few things that make my thought very unlikely. 1) dogs are not allowed in museums unless they are service dogs. 2) if a service dog is in a museum it is most likely not playing with a squeaky toy (that's just a guess). 3) museums are supposed to be on the quieter side, unless of course it is a children's museum or an interactive museum. So, with those thoughts quickly filtering through my head I turned to see what in the world was making this squeaking sound. My ears had taken my eyes over to the handicap ramp where I saw a security guard, a man, and the tops of 2 children's head, walking, or running in the case if the children, down the ramp. At first, behind the ramp wall, it looked as if the security guard was walking one of those toy wooden dogs that claps when you pull it. But after she turned off the ramp I knew she was just walking with her arm behind her (it was also very unlikely that she would have had one of those toys, but I'm just sharing my thought process). So my attention was then turned to the two children running down the ramp. BINGO!

To my surprise the squeak was coming from the little girl, no more than 3 years old. I had narrowed down who the squeak was coming from, but I could not seem to pin point where, until I started watching her run. The squeak was in sync with each of her steps. It was her shoes! Fist, I laughed. Then, when she didn't stop running I thought, 'Would somebody please pick up that child?'

Who knew a cute shoe could be so annoying?

A great idea on paper, but in reality, maybe not so much. I Googled these squeaky shoes and came up with a number of websites that create these shoes. What I learned is that most of the people who created these companies that sell the shoes had adopted a child from China. Apparently, when they met their child, in the country that seems to create an abundance of odd (but often useful) nick-nacks, each child was in a pair of these shoes. The purpose, and a pretty obvious one, was to keep an ear out for the child(ren). Like I said, good in theory, not in reality. The obnoxious squeak was high pitched and constant, like a dog who refuses to stop chewing on his stuffed squeaky squirrel. Charming and annoying all in one.

For those of you who would like a laugh, enjoy this video I found on YouTube. (you'll have to copy and paste this into your browser address bar because the link button wasn't working. So sorry!)

http://m.youtube.com/index?desktop_uri=%2F&gl=US#/watch?v=VgLKPJ3koA0

Then if you think they're just wonderful, purchase a pair for your child, or if you don't so much consider giving them as a gift...! :-D

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