Now that the weather has finally gotten nice, we’re walking to school more often. I put Annika in the stroller, and Katrina either walks or rides her scooter.
It takes about 15 minutes.
About halfway to school, Annika turns around in her stroller and glares at me. “WALK! WALK!” she demands. “Not now,” I reply. “You can walk after we drop Katrina off at school.”
Kisses and hugs, and Katrina runs onto the school playground. “WALK!”
“OK, let’s walk.” I lift Annika out of the stroller, and we walk home.
It takes about an hour.
Come, “walk” with us.
“UP!”
The first “WOCK!” stop. Gravel is like treasure, and our route home provides enough for the greediest of pirates.
See that wall there? The dirt is Annika eye level, perfect for digging through and finding little bugs. And cigarette butts.
“FWOWERS!”
We pass this trash can every single day. And every single day she says “TWASH!” and leans over and looks into it. I know! So exciting! Who knows what will be in it today!
Every so often she takes off running, and I am hard-pressed to keep up with the sudden speed. I aim to keep me or the empty stroller between her and the very busy street to our left. Most of the time I succeed.
Right in front of her is a beautiful planter with blooming flowers. The gravel is more interesting.
This day she brought two of her purses (BAG! PURR!)with her. So the gravel goes in her purse. And out again. And in. You get the idea.
She hears the “ding-ding-ding” of the train crossing gate behind us.
“Here, Annika, let’s go look at the train…oh. A manhole cover. Well. Train can’t compete with sticking your fingers in the hole of the manhole cover.”
“TWAIN! UP!”
Ooo! Dirt!
“GUCKY! DIWTY!”
“SIT!” OK, I lie. Her “S” often sounds like “SH”. She says “SHIT!” a LOT.
“OK, Annika, let’s go.” “NO! SHIT!”
You think you’re going to make it home in an hour? Yeah, right, Mom.
Checking her inventory. Or putting a leaf in, I can’t tell which.
I wonder if blue walls feel different than other colors of walls. Hmmmm…
“GUCKY! GUCKY! WAH!”
“CAAAAH! AUTO! CAH! AUTO!” (“Auto” is German for car and is pronounced more like “OWTOE”)
“UP! SHTEP!”
“One, two, free, THUMP!” (jump)
“FUHRFEE!”
More gravel. Coolest Walk EVAH.
Who needs pretty scenery when you’ve got gravel to play with?
And then there’s the weighing station, with a whole new surface to walk on!
“THUMP!”
Ooh, a new place to put rocks!
And…take them out again.
Hmmm, maybe this thing will open today. It didn’t yesterday, or the day before, but maybe today.
The old curb-road up-and-down walking trick. Fun for all ages.
Well, what do you know? More WOCKS!
Can I squeeze through here? I’d really like go over this wall head first, but Mama keeps holding me back.
S’cuse me, must make a call.
Oh, yeah? Really? Hey, I have to go. I see more rocks I must examine. Yeah. Yeah. Ok, bye.
“OPEN!”
Finally at our street. She decides she needs one purse on each arm.
More up and down.
“HI, YA-YA! Hi, YA-YA! Hi, YA-YA!” (Ya-ya is her rendition of the neighbor boy’s name. Note that Ya-ya was nowhere in sight. She just feels the need to hail the house every time we pass by.)
Also, Ya-ya has WHITE rocks. Must be examined Every Time.
We dropped Katrina off at about 8:40 am. We walk into the house at about 9:45.
“MELMO! MELMO! MELMO!”
Sure, baby. Here, watch Elmo. Mama needs a rest.
4 comments:
Jennifer, I am nearly certain that this walk takes you less than a quarter of a mile from my house. That's kinda funny.
Great post. How I would love to be able to recapture that sense of extreme curiosity/wonder that I guess we all have at that age...
Sounds much like our walks to the mailbox. So interesting to see so many similarities between she and Tay. Also? What's up with your kids and their cussing at such an early age? As I recall, K had an interesting way of pronouncing fork at that age, too. :)
This is so cute. Thanks for taking the time to postit. It brightened my day.
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