A walk to the park

All in all, not my best idea. We didn't have Stroller Strides today. North Hills Kids on the Commons didn't have their play blocks out today and I didn't think things through so I let Mark take the car to work. So around 1pm, Jessica (who is now very used to getting out of the house everyday) starts acting a bit restless. She sees the stroller and climbs in. I push her around the kitchen a bit. No? Not satisfying? Okay. We'll go to the park. Sounds like a superb idea doesn't it? (if you said yes, you too would be wrong.)

The closest park is North Hills. Only a mile. That's 3 minutes by car! However... that's at least 30 minutes pushing a stroller on foot. But that's okay! We can do this! Jessica is strapped in. She has a sippy cup. She's thrilled to be leaving the house! It's a lovely afternoon, not too hot if you keep moving and stay out of direct sunlight. We're making good time. I start to notice something. Hills. Lots of hills. (Apparently they didn't choose the name out of a hat when they named the place.) Right now we're predominately going down hill. That's great for now. We still have to get back home.. that requires going UP. I shake my head and try to forget about it. That will be future me's problem.

We get to the park. Hello North Hills park.

A little bit of backstory:


Tuesday we went to Bailywick park. It was warm. I had Jessica in shorts. Jessica's newest favourite past time is running. Splat. Skinned knee. I felt bad (She barely noticed)

Wednesday after Stroller Strides we played on the commons. I let Jessica go barefoot. The mats were baked in the sun and she burned her tiny feet. I felt HORRIBLE (She noticed big time, but she got over it quickly.)

So today I was prepared. She was wearing long pants. She was wearing shoes. I get her out of the stroller. She's excited. She goes running. SPLAT. This time she hits the concrete forehead first. We both noticed and we both felt horrible. She was crying. I was trying to be strong and not cry. (There were some other moms at the park who didn't even turn to look at us...) I called Mark and told him that I might be calling back in a few minutes and asking him to come pick us up. I couldn't see how I was going to walk back uphill with an injured crying child and push a stroller.

She pulled through. I didn't have to call Mark back and have him rush us to a doctor. She shook it off and played in the sand. She played on the slide. She dug in some bark. Generally, I think she enjoyed herself. 

Now it's time to head home again. Up hill. *sigh* We pack up, I give her some freeze dried strawberries to amuse her (which by the way, make her face look like she's been in a cat fight) and we head off. So far so good. Then there's the first baby hill. 

I say baby because they get worse than this. We tough it out. Get to the top and she breaks down. There's tears, there's snot, there's the world is ending bawling. There's nothing I can do. I have to get her out. So into the sling she goes. I am now wearing a hot, cranky, sweaty, sandy baby who must have a doozy of a headache. I still have to push a stroller. One handed. (and as many of you have heard me bemoan... this particular stroller does NOT go in a straight line if you're only using one hand.) Fun. We continue on. Ahhchooo! AaaaahCHOO! What in the world? Yes. I'm sneezing my head off. My head suddently aches. My eyes itch. We took a slightly different route home than the one out (I was steering for flat land) and apparently I'm allergic to something a road over from the way we came down. I have no idea how that's possible. Now we both feel rotten.

Drag the stroller up some stairs (the main elevator is apparently on service- so we had to go around the long way) and we're finally home. But there's one last little treat. The air was off in the flat so it's a toasty 78 degrees inside. 

Everything can be fixed. I took an allergy pill. Jessica's taking a nap. The air is on and I just ate something like 20 mini-nila wafers... can't let there be a net calorie loss today.