Shoe dilemma

I stumbled upon a clearance sale at Sears a couple of weeks ago. For under $15 total, Noah scored three new pairs of shoes and some shorts for next summer. Noah didn't quite catch the excitement, but I was excited enough for both of us.

Today he wore one of the new pairs of shoes to pre-school. They are green and black/gray with a cool strap that goes across the top to fasten them. After he got home from pre-school today I was talking to my sister on the phone when Noah went running towards the front door because Adam was home. I got all excited as I explained to my sister that Noah's new shoes are even cooler than I originally realized because as he was running I noticed them lighting up all over the place. He's worn them several times over the past couple of weeks and I was a little embarrassed that I had never noticed that they lit up. Bonus.

Fast forward two hours. Noah had taken his shoes off, but we were leaving the house so I needed him to put them back on. Rather than waiting for my ever-distracted Noah to get his shoes on, I grabbed them in one hand and him in the other so that I could put them on for him. He was sitting on the counter, I was putting his shoes on his big ol' flat feet, and wait a minute . . . I got to the part where they were ready to be fastened and I realized that in place of one cool strap going across the top, were two lame velcro strips. What the . . . ? It was at that point that it became clear why I hadn't noticed that his shoes had lights. His shoes don't have lights. He came home from pre-school with somebody else's shoes and it took me all afternoon to realize it. Besides both of them being black with some green trim, they don't even look alike - at all.

So, the dilemma now is whether the lights are cooler than the single strap. Should I send them back? I did a pros and cons list of keeping the light shoes: Pro: duh! the lights. Con: they are a size too big. Pro: he'll has room to grow into them. Con: I feel guilty that some other kid has his feet crammed into shoes that are a size too small. Pro: the lights (cool enough to make the pro list twice). Con: double velcro vs. one cool strap. Pro: can I say lights again? Con: the other shoes are brand new and these are definitely worn. What to do . . . what to do . . . . What if I send the light shoes back and he comes home with something entirely different? What if I get double velcro and no lights back? What if he comes home in girl shoes?

My brother-in-law says that I should be happy that he didn't come home with another kid's underwear. That would definitely be worse since Noah is still in diapers. Imagine the look of horror on the other mom's face if her potty trained kid came home in Noah's used diaper.