Pink push buggy

Just yesterday we were at playgroup and the hosts surprised all the toddlers with a little post Easter egg hunt outside. I mean, amazingly they had at least 7 Easter baskets on hand and when we needed just one more, they went in the back and pulled another one out of (God knows where).  I found this hilarious because I pictured the egg hunt at my house and I'd be emptying out containers, flower pots and fruit bowls trying to give small children Easter basket hope.  Aside from this, the bunny hop was completed in about 7.5 seconds.  Then the kids sat around sneaking jelly beans and we oohed and aahed over the neighbor's cool yard.

Miss Iva June started wiggling around at this point and thrashing backwards (as she usually does).  She clearly wanted to get on the ground like the other kids....so I let her (against my true wishes).  I watched that little girl try to put her feet up in a V-position so that she could try to "walk". She became instantly frustrated and started crying...something she's been doing more of lately.  My heart saddened as I knew she wanted to join in all the bunny fun, but physically couldn't.  As she crawled around the yard, my sweet friend Mandy kept pointing out that she was eating leaves, pods and dirt again....dirt was everywhere....on my face, down my neck, and therefore down my shirt.  June had dirt all in and around her mouth.  See, this is what happens when I let her crawl around the earth.  It's a love-hate relationship, this dirt.

On the way home, we got sidetracked at another friend's house and I just happened to take June out of the stroller and let her ride in a little tikes car that was abandoned because it was "too easy" for all the other kids.  It was perfect for June. She smiled while she was riding and finally cried when it was time to go.  Her little hands gripped the steering wheel like she was a race car driver.  She sat up super-straight, as if to boast that she is a big girl now. 

As I dragged both kids home, my mind started reeling.  I HAD to get her that little tikes car.  So, after I put the kids to bed for a nap, I was on the internet, feverishly searching for a good deal on a push around buggy.  Found one on Amazon. It wasn't going to get here fast enough. I needed one for like, when she woke up from her nap.  Found one on Craig's List. Pink. Perfect.  Drove to the house after dinner and now I have one happy little girl who can actually do something when she's outside. 
So, this is what we did all day:

Walk or Ride?

So it's stroller time around here in good ol' Hampton Roads, and I'm supposed to be happy and excited to tote my kids around in their double jogger, or the  "umbrella" stroller or what my parents call the "cadillac" of strollers.  Usually I am thrilled to get some stroller time in, but lately it has been more of a guilt-fest than anything else for me.

You see, for most toddlers, stroller time is fun... a time to rest from running around, a time to look around, look up, listen to birds.  Well, lately, every time I put my almost two year old in the stroller, she looks up at me as if to say "Not this again...do you know how much sitting in restraint systems I do? Do you know how much listening I do (because I don't talk at all)? And do you know that you should really be holding my two little hands and practice walking with me? Mom, you can walk just fine."  I usually smile and she's always compliant. I put her in there anyway and my son walks or rides-whatever he chooses, but my June, she just rides and sometimes bends her body completely in half so she can giggle and eat her toes.

The zoo is about 1 mile from our house, so we go there quite often. Today was a gorgeous sunny day, so it was just calling for the zoo...and I headed there wishing I could be 100% excited, but I wasn't because I knew what this meant for little June. She'd be sitting all morning long.  So we went anyway. It really was wonderful. We rode the train. The tigers were even out.  It couldn't have been more perfect weather, or I couldn't have gone with a more perfect friend and her kiddos.  So we walked around oohing and aahing over the new exhibit and the new monkeys, the black bears....June squiggled around in her cadillac stroller, not interested in animals, completely giving up on getting out of her seat. I picked her up every once in a while to show her the animals that she was completely uninterested in. She was, however, fascinated with the cages. So, we touched lots of cages, wires and fences. 

At the very end, we were all staring, mesmerized by the tigers and she was smiling at the ceiling, her fingers dancing. I looked up and I swear they put those things up there for special needs kids. Two brilliant (fake) ginormous Japanese dragons were hanging on the awning above us. She smiled...took it all in like it was a supernatural phenomenon as they were blowing in the breeze.  After a snack, we headed home. 

Later this evening (on another walk) my husband asked me if I had done any "walking" with June today. "No", I said. "Tomorrow" is what I'm thinking.