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.