Tag: Walking

family, humor, kids, motherhood

I Would Walk 500 Miles (T.Puzzle Out)

WFAM

Where we live, while awesomely close to downtown, having a yard is unusual.  Giant houses that take up every square inch of their lot are the norm.

I treasure my small backyard.  With so many statuesque trees flanking our streets, songbirds abound.  If I am really lucky, I might see a deer:

IMG_6765

Just kidding.  Our alley is being reworked so the only deer(e) I see cause quite a ruckus.

Besides the mild annoyance of construction noise, where we live is very fun.  We are a few blocks away from excellent restaurants.  We try to walk to meals out as much as we can.

Most of our family loves this.

T.Puzzle hates this.

He hates to walk anywhere.  To him it is slow, boring and ultimately pointless.

Seated at lunch last weekend, the four of us had walked to a new taco joint.  The food was great and the weather perfect for our outside table.

We debated if we would walk to get ice cream before hitting Target (yes! we can walk to Target!).  We didn’t want to push T.Puzzle’s attitude because we know better, and he is only a mild fan of ice cream, weird, I know.

“You up for walking for ice cream?” said Mad Dog.

Silence.

Then, slowly, T.Puzzle formed a response as his shoulders lifted in a slight shrug.

“I guess so.”

I read the meaning behind his words.

“Basically, T.Puzzle is willing to walk with us but he will be super depressed about it the whole time,” I said.  “Did I guess that right?”

“Yep,” said T.Puzzle.

This boy sugar coats nothing.

IMG_6586

 

children, humor, kids, mommyhood, motherhood, parenting

A Pick Me Up

WFAM

We have officially survived the first week back at school.  I realize it is going to take some time to get smoothly back into our routine.  Overall, the boys fared well and we are off to a great start.

One of the challenges of Full Speed’s school is the pick-up and drop-off.  There are over one thousand students at his school and until some kinks get worked out, pick-up especially is kind of a nightmare.  You throw in some good ol’ Florida heat and it can turn miserable pretty quick.  There’s not a lot of shaded areas to stand and wait.  It isn’t very fun.

Full Speed has noticed that this pick-up situation is getting out of hand.  He had a flash of brilliance and announced, “How about I walk home by myself?”  He’s a fairly confident kid and he did his best to keep this thought going.  Then, slowly, the doubt and fear of walking home alone shadowed over his face.  “Well, maybe since I’m in first grade I’m still kind of little and the cars wouldn’t be able to see me.  I might get run over.”

He was so cute trying to problem solve.  He was even more cute when he realized he may not be quite as brave as he initially thought.

So I’m resigned to continue this pick-up for the foreseeable future.  To cope, I’m applying lots of sunscreen and hoping some patience falls my way.  Oh, and I’ll do my best not to run anyone over.