To this day, the ability to tie his shoes is not one of AJ's strengths. He can do it, but not well, and not tightly.
Determined to not repeat this with Sydney, I found a book I thought could help. It has Disney Princesses and laces with which she can practice. Sydney was excited to listen to the story, but not so excited to do the tying part.
"Princesses don't wear tie shoes," she rationalized.
"Oh, I'm sure Princess Kate wears tennis shoes sometimes," I countered.
And so we began.
I had no idea there were so many ways you could tie shoe laces. Scuttle, the seagull in the Little Mermaid taught to make two wings, and then cross one wing over the other.
On the next page, Snow White's forest friends taught to "make a tree" with one lace, and then have a bunny friend hop around the tree and through the hole.
I give them points for creativity.
Sydney and I tried working as a team. I was the tree. She was the bunny. It worked well, so I left her to practice on her own, reminding her to leave a long root dangling off the tree.
It didn't take long until I heard frustrated cries from her room.
"I can't find the bunny hole!"
We moved on to Cinderella's. Even I didn't understand the instructions of weaving loops together.
We went back to Snow White's tree and rabbit friends.
She's still not quite got it on her own, but with my help, she regained her enthusiasm.
Here's Sydney's version of how to tie shoes:
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