Our Morning Walk

Lately, Alex and I have been in the habit of taking a morning walk around our neighborhood. We put on our shoes, lock the front door and head out in search of adventure. Alex always manages to find it. This morning, for example, we held hands and crossed the street many times, smelled flowers, climbed up and down a grassy hill, threw rocks, walked on ledges, touched a motor scooter, watched birds, listened to a helicopter, ran, crawled, saw two garbage trucks, climbed up onto a bench, and finally, took off shoes and ran downhill.

On these walks, my goal is to give Alex as much choice and freedom as possible. I often find that I have to fight my urge to "make progress" during times like these. If I had insisted on getting to a particular destination, or going in a particular direction, we would have missed so much! This is not to say that we never take Alex out in the stroller or backpack or even that he doesn't like riding in them. It's just that there are so many times in the day when he doesn't get to choose where to go and what to do that I feel really good about making this a time when he does.