A Walk In The Hood

I'm home this week with the kids. Our daycare provider is on vacation and thus so am I. We also decided to not put my oldest, Gigi, in summer camp this week. Handling all three of the kids can be a challenge, but I had a plan. Kim took yesterday off and we all went school shopping. We made a day of it and had a great time. My plan for today was to have my mom come out and join the kids and I as we ran our errands (usually Target, the dairy and the library). My mom usually buys us lunch and then offers to "watch" the kids as they nap so I can get out for a bit.

My mom called yesterday to let me know she wasn't feeling well and wouldn't be visiting. OK. So slight change. Kim went to Target, leaving me with only the library today. I decided the best strategy was to tire the kids out.

"We're walking to the library" I announced. It's a one mile walk. It's a sunny day. All good, right? Not so much. Gigi wanted no part of this. I offered to let her stay home, but she wanted no part of that either. "Why do we have to walk?" Before I could respond Lex chimed in "Me like walking and Daddy said we were." Thank you Little Man. More grumbling as Gigi wanted to wear her brand new shoes. I said "No, wear your old ones because you need to break them in before you walk a mile in them."

"You're being mean." Gigi started to stomp off.

"Fine. Wear them, but when you get blisters and your feet hurt on the way home, I don't want to hear it." She wizened up (slightly) and wore flip-flops. We packed up our books and headed out. Gigi wanted to read a book as we walked and I told her to be careful. 250 feet later, she tripped and slammed into me. "Urggh! Why do we have to walk? It's too dangerous to walk."

I wanted to say "Uhm, maybe if you didn't have your nose in a book, you'd be okay." but I didn't. I did offer to let her stay home, but again, she declined.

Lex had a field day walking to the library. Every fire hydrant we passed, he tried to turn on. He picked up a piece of Styrofoam and flew it around as a plane. He acted as our scout, looking for cars at each and every crosswalk and he pressed the crosswalk crossing light buttons. Most importantly, he responded to every negative comment Gigi made with a cheery "Me like walking!"

Loki also enjoyed the trip. She got to ride in style as I took the stroller. She waved to every person we saw, but sadly in our neighborhood, no one waved back.

Gigi huffed and puffed the first 10 minutes until I explained to her that when I was her age, I routinely walked 2 1/2 miles to my library. She retorted "This is my week of rest and relaxation!" I'm sure I'll remember that tonight when it's bedtime. 'Can I stay up later?' 'No, sorry, this is your week of resting.'

We made it to the library with a minimum of additional grumbling.  Maybe half-a-dozen "are we there yet?" and a handful of exasperated sighs.

Once at the library, Lex began his library ritual.  We walk in, he yells at the cardboard cut-out of the T-Rex in the lobby and we proceed to the book drop.  Lex returns all of our books and then dashes off to the water bubbler.  Once his thirst is slaked, he runs off to the library registration desk and says hi to the clerk.  Occasionally, he will stop and chat with the clerk, sometimes drawing them a picture.  Today, as he ran by and said hello, Gigi let out a frustrated grunt and said "Stop it" to Little Man.  I asked her what was wrong.  "He's embarrassing me."  Really, by being friendly and out-going?  "He shouldn't be just saying hi to anyone he sees."  The problem here is that Gigi is severely introverted.  She won't ask a librarian to help her; doesn't talk to people unless spoken to and even then it's mono-syllabic.  Little Man, on the other hand, is going to be a politician.  He has no trouble interacting with complete strangers and happily, he is 100% polite about it.  Perfect example, this weekend, while at a State Park celebrating a friend's birthday party, Lex wandered off.  I saw him going and followed at a safe distance to see what he was doing.  He walked up to a lady who was walking her dogs.  He said something to her and she said something back.  He proceeded to pet the dog.  I approached and asked Lex if had asked if it was okay to pet the dog.  The woman said that he had asked quite politely if he could.  Earlier in the week, when we were at Border's he offered to share his cookie with a woman.

We gathered up our books and after checking out began our trek home.  I chose a much less hillier route to get us home.  Even with this, our journey was punctuated again by Gigi's litany of complaints.  I offered to let her wait on the stoop of an abandoned warehouse and I would drive back once I got home with the kids.  She quickly stopped complaining.  For about 3 minutes.  Lex picked up on her incessant complaining and started saying how tired he was.  Lex, Loki and I had made this same trip twice previously with no complaints, so I am annoyed that Gigi's complaining has rubbed off on him.  Hopefully once she has returned to WI, her influence will wear off.

I want to raise my kids to be self-sufficient.  I want them to feel like they can talk to librarians.  I want them to be able to stay home at 10 years old and not be afraid.  I want them to be able to walk a mile and not feel like they're stepping into the Richard Bachman book The Long Walk.