Apr
20
That Baby loves to walk. LOVESLOVESLOVES it. She is a very social sort, so she likes to be out in the world, looking at everything, talking to everyone about everything, and just generally being on the move. She doesn’t mind the stroller, but prefers time to walk her own self. (Until she gets tired, at which point, she’s fine with the stroller or being carried.)
So we try to get out and walk as frequently as possible.
One walk we do almost every day is around our block. We walk down one side of the block and up the other. But recently, we have wandered down the path that is the entrance to our part of the conservation area behind our house.
From the bottom of the path you can see a water overflow area, which catches any overflow of our drainage system from spring melts or heavy rains. It’s swampy but home to local wildlife — a groundhog or two, a couple of ducks, a goose on a nest on top of what looks like a beaver dam (only much smaller) and his or her partner goose paddling around the pond, and the odd housecat stalking the birds or mice or what have you. So recently, we have taken to wandering down and having a look at the critters.
Also, fairly recently, we have started to wander into the conservation along the main path. It has been swampy and muddy as the snow melts and the ground dries out, so we started out going only a few steps, and go a few steps farther each day.
On our first forays into the conservation, Stinkerbelle seemed distinctly off. In the winter it was bright and fine and she was smaller, so she wandered out and around the clearing in the snow with no worries. But now that she is older, and the trees make the woods seem darker, she has been apprehensive. She has not wanted to go very far, and quickly fusses to leave.
I was sad, a little. I was concerned that my girl would be afraid of the woods and we would not be able to enjoy them together.
Today, however, something changed.
We went down the walkway to the pond to look at the ducks. And I wandered along the gravel path, as I do, and encouraged her to follow, so we could see how far we would go today before the ground was too wet.
But That Baby was unmoved. She stopped, and pointed instead in another direction.
She pointed to a small trail that wandered off on its own through the woods. It was a small trail, made by individuals and their dogs and probably the deer, not the nice flat gravel trail I was on.
So I thought, Okay, let’s just see.
I followed her, and off we went into the woods.
My daughter has just turned two. She’s still figuring out the mechanics of walking and running and how legs and feet and knees work together in harmony. So I did not think she would enjoy walking on a forest trail, particularly one that was uneven, and had myraid things to trip over and bump into, and quickly plunged into the dark wood.
I was mistaken.
She took off like she has walked in the woods all her life. She traipsed along the trail, surefooted like a little goat, avoiding many of the rocks and branches set to trip her up. I reached out occasionally to help her over some particularly troublesome obstacles, but for the most part, she was fine on her own. She marched into the dark of the forest, and being small, occasionally asked me to leave the trail as she could walk unhindered through groves of pines, underneath all the branches. (I couldn’t walk so easily, so I led her back to the trail after a few minutes exploration.)
She was in her element. She saw trees, and birds, and squirrels, and we explored for a good 15 minutes. For little legs, that’s quite a long time, particularly just before lunch. And then she turned to me and asked to be picked up.
I lifted her up on my shoulders. I thought about going on, but it was lunchtime, which is followed by naptime, and I didn’t want to mess up her schedule. But I think it would have been lots of fun to explore a little while.
So I turned around and headed back along the trail through the woods to our subdivision. Stinkerbelle sang up on my shoulders, and pointed out things she saw, and we ducked together to avoid branches.
And as we left the conservation and headed up the sidewalk for home, she reached down and hugged my head tight, and tilted her head to rest her cheek on the top of my head.
I kissed her hands. She kissed me back.
It seems like the walk in the woods was a big hit. I hope we can do it again some day.
