93/365: Walking Home From School

With the amount of time I spent on the couch yesterday, I didn't manage to squeeze my workouts in my day.  And being the rule follower I am, I felt like I needed to get do them.  Thankfully today was a snow day!  I needed to make up yesterday's 45 minute run with six striders and a 60 minute spin with neuromuscular and muscular endurance work.  Today is a recovery day, so my workout was a 40 minute walk with the dogs.  I managed to do my spin and run indoors, but how do you walk the dog indoors?  Plus, the kids gave me grief about picking them up early today.  (Boo did not have a snow day.)  So I had an idea.  Diesel and I could walk over to Boo's school and get him and the three of us would walk home.  Sounds simple enough, doesn't it?

Having kids has taught me to plan for contingencies.  I knew Boo left the house wearing a hoodie and jeans with his Nikes.  He had on his winter coat and gloves.  He was dressed appropriately for the weather.  But after being his mother for six years, I know he doesn't always return home in the same condition in which he leaves.  So I packed my messenger bag with his snow boots, another hoodie, gloves, a scarf, and a hat.  I snuck Diesel out of the house because I knew Daisy would want to go, but her old legs and fat belly wouldn't be game for the two hills we'd have to walk.  Off we went.

In my mind, school was a lot farther than it actually is.  I gave us 35 minutes to walk there.  It took us 12.  It was 22F and the wind was blustery, so Diesel and I kept walking.  I was afraid we'd get cold if we stood too long.  So we headed over to the school with about 15 minutes to wait.  We stood behind a wall to block the wind and watched the parents drive up and stay in their running cars to stay warm.  The Dieselnator began to shiver, so I had to kneel down and cuddle him.  Finally the buses pulled out and we moved to the red pick up line.  Boo comes out holding his teacher's hand.  (Of course he does, where else does the teacher put the class clown?)  Wait for it, wait for it.  Yep, there it is!  He sees Diesel, beams, and comes running.  That's what I was wanting! 

My first question is about his gloves.  They're in daddy's truck.  Next, what does he have on under the hoody. A thermal t-shirt--that'll work.  I reach in my bag to pull out the boots and other items to find there is only one boot.  You've got to be kidding me!  Where did I drop it?  I can't do much about it at that exact moment, so I just set about adding the appropriate cold weather accessories to my son's person.  Scarf around the neck, hat on the head, and finally gloves on the hands.

"Mommy, what are you doing?"

"I'm getting you ready to walk home."

"Why Mommy?  Where's the Audi?"

"At home."

"How'd you get here?"

"I walked."

Sometimes the brightest ones can still be a little slow on the uptake.  I really don't want to have to buy him a new pair of snow boots, so I decide we'd retrace the long path Diesel and I took on the way to get him.  I held my hand out and we set to walking.  The first thing I realized was that his little legs need three steps to keep up with my long strides.  I know I asked him at least seven times if I needed to slow down.  I would and then, without realizing it, I would speed up again.  I think he ran tempo most of the way home.  We finished the add-on section of the walk and still no boot.  Boo was convinced it would be on the big hill . . . and it was.  He sprinted up the hill as fast as his legs would take him.  We stopped at the boot so he could put it on before we continued home.

I have to say this adventure was one of the best "mommy" times I've ever had.  Boo and I talked our entire walk.  He openly talked about his day at school without me feeling like I was prying.  I think he repeated, verbatim, the entire lesson on penguins.  He tried to convince me we should walk to pick Bella up from CP.  Everytime I would give him a reason we couldn't, he found a way around it.  And he's already looking foward to the next time Mommy can walk him home from school.