In the 18 years I've been a mom, I've bought a ton of children's shoes.  I love a quality shoe and am willing to pay a little bit for awesome footwear.  I found a loafer version of this shoe at Nordstom and bought it but then I found this bootie version on Amazon and ordered them and returned the others.  My 4 year old twins love their Croc sandles during the summer so I hoped these would be as great a shoe.  I will say that these are fantastic little shoes, and really, the price isn't over the top. My little boy can get these on and off at preschool all by himself, they are light weight for easy running, and they seem as though they will hold up through our wet, Northwest winters just fine.  My little boy loves them and they will go with all his clothes.  I did purchase a weather proofing spray for leather to use on them just for good measure.  A simple zipper on the side will make getting out the door easy in the morning.  I just love these shoes.