a walk gone awry

since ben is beginning to skip his afternoon naps, i've decided that having a morning nap from 9:30am - 10:30am just leaves waaay too much time open until bedtime. in order to push the morning naps back a little, i've gone for a couple walks so far this week to give ben some fresh air before his one and only (sigh) nap. now that ben has become mobile, things that hold him down such as carseats, strollers, and straightjackets really frustrate him. we go on a lot less walks these days, however, not being in a rush to be somewhere or meet someone, i popped him in the stroller and then let him out to walk whenever he gave the signal. (the signal being the sign for "all done") it works well. while out of the stroller, he met some squirrels, played with leaves and acorns, watched the garbage truck go by in awe, picked up rocks, and pushed the stroller. while in the stroller, he took his shoes off, put a necklace on and off his neck, played with the garage door opener (that i brought with me instead of a house key), and looked at a book. lots to do.

as we came up the hill towards our house, i was huffing and puffing and thinking that i need to get back to the gym. ben's got the full on whine going and it's definitely nap time. perfect timing. i start digging through the cupholders to grab the garage door opener. it's not there. (did you see the foreshadowing in the above paragraph?) i check my pockets, i lift ben out of the stroller and check his seat, and i check the thing under the stroller. no garage door opener. no way for me to get into the house. shoot. i turn the stroller around and start running down the street. then i stop because i'm tired and think again, i need to get to the gym again. haha. i retrace our steps and ben is totally stressed that the "all done" sign is not getting him out of the stroller now. the whole way back down the first hill and then the second hill, i'm making a plan in my head of how we're going to get into the house. then i remember a house that we'd stopped in front of that i'd pulled ben out of the stroller to walk and i hope, hope, hope that it had fallen out there. and it WAS! phew.

then i turned around and walked back up the two hills. at least i got a little workout in already today.