Do You Want To Get Out And Walk?...

The above was a common phrase used by my parents during my childhood and one that Eric used on Tade last night. (The following story is mostly for me so that I can remember this funny night.) We were coming home from my brother, John's, wedding dinner and it was around nine o'clock. The kids were playing their "kicking game" in the backseat, which is where they try to reach each other with their legs, even though they are buckled in their car seats. Eric and I frown upon this game because it is loud and, usually, one or both kids end up crying. Well, we were almost home (just turning at the McDonald's/K-Mart light) when the kids really stopped listening to my pleas to end the "game." All the sudden Eric says to Tade, "Do you want to get out and walk?" Tade, of course, says, "Yes, yes, yes!" So I say, "Pull over. Let him out." At this point we were right across from the strip mall on the curvy road back to our house so Eric pulls over, puts the car in park, and starts unbuckling Tade. I open the door and tell him to jump out. (Now any responsible adult knows that we really wouldn't have let him walk home from there so don't get too worried.) Tade starts freaking out about snakes in the grass and says that he doesn't want to walk until we are closer to the house. I am just impressed that he knows where he is and how to get home from where we were pulled over. Well, he got buckled again and I though we would just go home, but Eric decides to, actually, let Tade walk home from the bottom of the hill at the second entrance to our subdivision. Tade was super excited. This time when we pulled over he gets unbuckled and jumps out of the van. He starts running up the sidewalk with us following slowly behind. At one point, because of construction, there is a giant dirt pile on the sidewalk. When Tade got to this obstacle, he paused for about 10-15 seconds and you could tell he was thinking, "Should I go over it? No, my mom wouldn't want me to get dirty. Should I go in the road to get around it? No, my mom wouldn't want me in the road." Finally, he crossed the mud pile/grass bar and walked like a gymnast with his little arms out on the cement curbing. Thus, not going in the dirt pile or the road. Eric and I were just laughing while we were watching. He was so cute and excited to be walking home. He kept looking over at us and waving. He did have to cross two roads, at which he stopped, looked both ways for cars and then crossed. We pulled into the garage before he could run up, but he got there as we were getting out and he was so proud of himself. It may have not been the best choice to let him walk home, but he certainly had fun and he went right to bed so I might have to make him run up the hill every night!