The Long March

I have been ditching the stroller and walking home with Cecilia from daycare all Winter, because once the streets got too clogged with snow it became more trouble than it was worth. I swear the space between Chestnut and Franklin streets along Pleasant will be permanently imprinted in my brain forever, like the walk from my mom's house to the subway station at 86th and Broadway or the drive from New York to Philly.

It is about 2/3 of a mile and takes almost 45 minutes with Cecilia walking and playing at least half of the way. At first it was really aggravating as I just wanted to get it over as quickly as possible (I still have some of the New York City speed-walking mentality) but eventually I started to look at it as a fun activity for us to share. Given that no one is home waiting for us for dinner or anything, there is really no reason to be in a hurry. What a blessing to be able to enjoy a stress-free commute home together, instead of fighting the traffic or cramming into a bus like most of the world!

She gets to explore everything and we talk about all of the things we see - it is amazing when you step back to notice just how much there is to see on the street. I got the idea from one of those kids books that shows different scenes and labels all of the objects in it. Buses, trucks, bicycles, moving cars, parked cars, driveways, garages ("car live there!"), fire hydrants, fences, gates, mailboxes, trees, cats, dogs, birds, people of all kinds, pumpkins, plants, telephone polls, pipes, airplanes, the moon, snow, snow, more snow, and the latest favorite, puddles.

With the snow melting there have been lots of puddles on the street and - like most kids I assume - Cecilia loves to jump in them. Lately we spend the walk scouting out the good puddles and her charging into them and jumping. Last night was pretty cute, because she wanted me to carry her the whole way once we passed River street, but then every time we passed a puddle I had to put her down so she could jump in it. Mission complete, she would turn to me, raise her arms and say "carry you!". Needless to say we are still working on pronouns, but I'm really not too worried about it.


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