proud of my Roanie

yes, he's 8 years old and many may think it's ridiculous that he is only now accomplishing this, but, well, they don't know my Ronan.
yesterday, we bought some new shoes for the boys before school starts in a few weeks.  Ronan has been resistant about learning to tie his shoes.  for some reason he has had it set in his mind that tying shoes is near impossible.  it has been a struggle at times and we have learned to pick and choose certain battles and a fight over shoelaces just isn't worth it.
this time Tim and I made Ronan choose a pair with laces.  NO velcro.  he tried on shoes and a pair was chosen.  he still had them on when we were ready to leave so we told him to put them back in the box so we could buy them. he sat down on the floor and started taking the shoes off and I could tell he was stressing out about the fact that they weren't velcro.  I saw that he was trying so hard not to cry about it, but there were tears in his eyes.  I got down next to him and reassured him that it would be okay.  we'd practice as much as we needed until he got the hang of it.  he was still sad and worried.
Connor had tried to help him figure out tying laces at the store and after we got home he tried to help a little more.  Soon I heard Connor say to ask Mom to show how to tie the bunny ears way.  I never tie shoes that way so it really doesn't make sense to me, but I can do it after a couple of tries...
I showed him how one time.  he said in a surprised voice "that looks easy!"
then he tried. and he tried again.  not to perfection but very well done for a new attempt.
this morning he put on his shoes and tied them.  he took them off and a while later put them on again.  Tim asked him if he was going outside.  No, I like tying my shoes, he says.  He's so danged proud of himself!  I'm so happy for him.  I'm proud of him.
now the world is his  :)