give it up for SpongeBob!

Trinity has been WANTING to tie her own shoes for quite some time now. I mean REALLY wanting to. She was the only one in her class that still had Velcro shoes (granted, there are only five kids in her kindergarten class). So you get what I mean when I say she was DYING to tie her shoes! We tried to teach her a few times, but she just wasn't quite ready, so we told her to be patient and that she would tie her own shoes one day.

A few weeks ago, Trinity and Natalie were watching the ever-infamous SpongeBob. Sometimes he grosses me out, sometimes I think he is really funny. Other times I wonder if he really is appropriate for their age. Oh well. I'm not perfect. Anyway, we were watching an episode that we had all seen before, but had only mindlessly watched in the past. This time, Trinity was actually learning something. You see, SpongeBob had forgotten how to tie his shoes! He went around all day terribly upset, until he finally stopped to pay attention to what his pet snail, Gary, had to say to him. Gary turned out to have an awesome record, which played an awesome song, about tying your shoes! "It's called the loop de loop!" Trinity stared at the TV with huge eyes, soaking in every moment. Then, she got up, went to her daddy's shoes, and tried to tie them! I saw what she was doing, so I went over to help her. She got it! Then she exclaimed, "SpongeBob taught me how to tie my shoes!" We all busted out laughing. It was the funniest thing-a cartoon-teaching our child how to do something useful!

That whole day she practiced and practiced. The next day, I went to Walmart and bought her some tie-shoes. My happiness came from the fact that the shoes were on clearance for only $7.00! :) Steal of a deal! When I picked her up from school, I gave her the surprise. She was ecstatic. She immediately put them on, and then continued to do something else funny...she would be walking around, shoes tied and all, then suddenly stop. She dropped to the ground, untied her shoes, and then tied them again! I guess it was such a novelty to her that she wanted to do it again and again! The next day she wore her new shoes to school and showed everyone and anyone who would watch that she could tie her shoes. Her teacher even said that she continued to "STOP, DROP, and TIE!" I love this little girl so much, and really am happy that she can now tie her shoes! Thanks to SpongeBob for teaching her!