Yesterday was a lovely, sunny day in the metropolis of St. Albans. The little ones were home sick due to a second night of projectile vomiting from our little princess. After breakfast, 10 espisodes of Little Einsteins, taking Ava’s baby for a walk, building with our blocks, a couple snacks, a jaunt in the back garden, reading books upstairs, lunch, a nice long nap, coloring, riding on the trike, emptying the contents of our school bags and Mummy’s handbag onto the floor, putting our coats and shoes on 13 times, playing with Rocket and the Little Einsteins characters, playing with the house, Noah’s arc and several toys that make lots of noises by pressing a multitude of buttons……we ran out of things to do!
It was a gorgeous day and a perfect opportunity to practice our walking skills!
With our shoes, coats and hats firmly in place again – off we went.
The corner shop was our destination for our escapade as we needed a few items to keep us going. Out the door we went. First Jake holding one hand of mine and clinging to the side of the door for dear life. He plops his feet onto the ground outside. Then Ava, who was more apprehensive and preferred to be lifted out the door. Now outside the door, I had one on either side of me and we were off down the sidewalk.
We toddled to the edge of the road where they both clung onto my hand for dear life as the dropped one foot then the other over the big curb and down onto the road. Over the road we went. Up the curb and onto the other side. We made it about 3/4 of the way and Jake’s arms went up begging to be carried. I put Jake on my right hip and held onto Ava’s little hand with my left hand. About 20 more steps and Ava thrusts the arms up to be lifted. Jake goes down. Ava comes up. Another 20 steps and we were in the corner shop. Whew!
Inside the shop I grab a loaf of bread and hand it to Jake to carry. Fight ensues over who holds the bread. Jake wins and has a very firm grip on our now mashed bread. I grab tea lights and hand them to Ava. Another dispute over who holds the tealights. I grab a few more items and the process continues. At last we all have 2 items in our hands and we take off for the register to pay. Half way there I turn around to see 2 smiling toddlers proudly walking along and their prized posessions dropped all over the floor behind them. I go back and pickup the mashed bread, tealights, etc. We pay and get out the door.
The next 30 minutes follows this pattern:
– Jake and Ava are each holding my hand and walking happily
– Ava stops to pick at the mold in between the bricks in the sidewalk
– I stoop down to have a look with Ava and to encourage her to keep walking
– While we are looking at mold, Jake sees an interesting car that needs investigation and takes off
– As Ava is still engrossed in mold, I chase after Jake
– He starts banging on the car mirror which prompts me to pick him up
– A squabble ensues as the car mirror is much more interesting than walking home
– Ava loses interest in the mold and runs in the opposite direction of us towards someone’s front door
– With Jake in my arms, we go after Ava
– I put down Jake and grab Ava as she is going straight for a snail in the neighbors garden
– Jake is straight back to the car
– Ava is now going bananas as she does not understand why we cannot play with the snail she has newly befriended.
Essentially this up/down and toddling in opposite directions continues until we make it to the front door. After trying desperately to escape, I get them both inside and shut the door. There were lingering tears but thankfully we did all survive and I am fortunate to be able to write this today!
Reliving this episode reaffirms my plot to convince hubby that reigns are not just for dogs!
