Tonya and PQBON's WebLog
Katie's mile route - via Google Maps
Tonya, Katie, and I have been going on walks since Katie was born. It started out with Katie in her snuggly many times inside my jacket. Then we gradually moved on to the stroller. By the time we were out of Pacifica and into Fremont she didn't really fit in the snuggly so we had to rely on the stroller alone.
Tonight was the next big milestone. Katie walked half of our walk on her own two feet.
We have a normal route that goes for about 2.2miles and has a Starbucks in the middle . We walk the first half. Then we stop for coffee and sometimes desert. Then we continue on our way around the block back to our house.
Katie really really looks forward to going on walks. She starts sometime in the afternoon with the question: "Walk?" Which doesn't actually sound much different from one of her other favorite words "Rock!" However, if you listen to her inflection you can tell walk from rock because walk is always a question. (Katie is a little rock hound. She loves few things that aren't Elmo as much as she loves to collect rocks and play with them.)
Tonight, when we agreed to go on a walk, she started saying, "puppy!" When Katie started wanting to actually walk when shopping or at the park or other places Tonya bought Katie a little backpack. This is no ordinary backpack. It is a stuffed puppy with two clips in front to prevent removal and what Tonya calls a tail. The tail is a detachable leash for parents to reign in small toddlers who get over stimulated.
We agreed and we went out into the garage where I reassembled her stroller that had been disassembled to remove a bodily fluid/solid that had soiled it a few days ago. Some may ask, "why the stroller?" We both knew there was NO way Katie was going to walk 2.2miles all by herself in a time frame we would be willing to settle for. On top of that Katie basically weighs 30lbs now. 30lbs is a lot to carry for a mile or more in your arms.
While I put together the stroller a small cat walked up the driveway and rubbed up against Katie. She had no idea what to do but she loved it. Our cat Zoe is not friendly to anyone but Tonya and I. I don't think she would be friendly to me if Tonya and I didn't sleep in the same bed. Once Katie started to pet the cat she got very excited and kind of scared the cat a little. It kept a distance of about 1 Katie stride from her.
So we set off with the stroller and Katie on her feet. In an uneventful walk, we walked from our house to Starbucks. Katie enjoyed walking on the grass and in the dirt along the sidewalk. It was a slight challenge to keep her on the sidewalk. She also partook in her prospecting by picking up and inspecting rocks as we walked.
We got Katie to get into her stroller at Starbucks by giving her her milk and "a muffin". Katie considers anything in a Starbucks pastry bag "a muffin". In this case it was a rice crispy treat. This was also a first for her. She had never had a ricecrispy treat before.
We finished the walk with Katie still in her stroller.