Skip to main content

Willow keeps stride with Daddy

Last fall, I wrote several times about taking Willow on long walks with me.
Depending on the weather (and it was warm throughout the fall and winter), she'd accompany me on walks in the neighborhood and at parks throughout the Midstate (and even went on a walk or two with me at a nearby mall).
She seemed to enjoy the walks and never complained or fussed. She liked seeing the dogs and the ducks and the kids, I think. Sometimes she fell asleep in the stroller (those made for especially long walks for me).
As time passed, I walked farther and faster, and Willow was there every step of the way.
In March, I graduated into running, and I've been Forrest Gump ever since. Even though I was getting better at running (and enjoying it more and more), I think I lost a simple pleasure of these outdoor jaunts: I had stopped taking Willow with me.
I was waking early in the day, sometimes as early as 5:20 a.m., so I could go running "unencumbered" by Willow. I have to admit that the quiet time suited me, but I was awfully tired during the day, so I tried (and rediscovered) taking Willow on my treks.
These jogging strolls are magical, for me and for Willow. I get to explore the area's roads and trails with probably the person I love more than any other in the world (of course I love all the moms in my life, but I'm sorry, ladies, Willow really has my heart). And Willow gets to see her dogs and ducks and kids and butterflies and birds and turtles. She also likes watching the world whirl by under her wheels.
She's not the same kid she used to be, though. Last fall, she couldn't walk or crawl, so the stroller didn't bother her much. Now she's an active little, get-into-anything toddler. She wants to run and climb and fall and giggle and roll. In other words, she can be quite a wriggle-worm in that stroller seat. And I know one day she won't want in that seat at all (unless another kid or little sister is in it).
I also know it's going to get cold in that seat, especially with me running along, head-on into a stiff winter breeze.
But I'm going to enjoy these strolls as long as I can. I'm going to enjoy the fallen leaves crunch under my feet and under Willow's wheels.
Maybe this will grow to be "one of our things." Maybe one day she'll go on runs with me. Or ride a bike along my strides.
That's one of the great things in life, isn't it? Not knowing where we're heading but knowing we'll find some magic, no matter how simple, along the way.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Willow's morning of play, play, play exhausts poor, old Dad

Willow's playtime universe continues to grow. Rapidly. Witness. In the midsummer heat, I take Willow out to our shaded backyard in the morning to play. And play she does. She climbed into her swing first. After I pushed her for a while, I got her out of the swing and put her in her wagon so she could help me convey bags of sand from the garage to the backyard to fill her sandbox (part of her new swing set) and her water table sandbox. She took rake and shovel and played in the sandbox for a bit. Then she waddled over to the deck and started to climb the steps to get to the water table. She played in the sand a bit, but most of her time was used dipping water up and out of the water part of the water table. Most the water ended up all over her. After that she wanted off the deck to go back to swinging. Instead I retrieved the new tricycle Cherish procured from a Franklin recycle center and cleaned it up. Willow loved the trike, holding on to the handle bars while I pushed her...
Post a Comment
Read more

Willow hones her friend-making skills

Up until now Willow has enjoyed the company of other tots her age only in the sense that where they are is where the fun and the toys are. That is to say she likes the toys and the gyms and the swings and if she has to be around these other toddlers, so be it. That's with kids her own age. She LOVES older kids, but they don't care much for her (other than "she's a baby," and Willow can't keep up with them, though she tries). Her older cousin, Rett, for example, hung the stars and moon in her opinion, so she'll just about do anything he does, including cozying up with him on the chair to watch a movie. And he does like her more than the typical older kid does. But as far as all the toddlers and babies roughly in Willow's age range, she doesn't have much use for them. She's not mean to them. She'll let them take a ball from her hand, for example (as some say, she plays well with others). But I can tell you, most definitely, she just doesn...
Post a Comment
Read more

Willow's tooth-brushing goes from rocky to rocking

Willow has been giving us fits for months now about brushing her teeth before bed. She's usually better brushing her teeth in the morning, meaning it's less like wrestling an alligator for me, but at night before bed, she turns into the Tasmanian Devil. We've tried making the tooth-brushing as fun as possible for her, but I usually end up holding her against her will while I try, mostly in vain, to pry the toothbrush into her clamped-shut mouth. Sometimes we give up. We've tried singing to her. Dancing. Story-telling. Tickling. Nothing has really worked. But Mommy might have hit on the solution. A singing toothbrush. Yesterday Mommy brought home a toothbrush that belts out Queen singing "We Will Rock You." This toothbrush ROCKS! And Willow loves it. We tried it out last night, and on the inaugural brushing, Willow brushed her teeth successfully all by herself. She danced the whole time too. And I stayed bruise free (I also, surprisingly, had more energ...
Post a Comment
Read more