Elias got very upset at my attempts to try to force him to wear his other shoes. He told me that the shoes he likes to wear are his fast shoes and the other shoes make him fall. He then proceeded to demonstrate this wearing his green shoes-- he put on the shoes and started running, then suddenly fell down. It must be true! I made him show Harry and the same thing happened: three steps and then his legs inexplicably collapsed under him. At this point I was amused but also a little frustrated.
"Fine," I said, "Wear your damn shoes!"
"Mom, they're not damn shoes! The other ones are damn!"
Then being very grown-up about the whole thing, I laughed and said, "No, you're damn."
Elias was obviously not happy about this. "No, mom, you're damn! And you don't look cool."
Notice the pristine shoes and victorious Elias.