Get It Right, Mom

There was no school yesterday.

My oldest daughter and I both took advantage of that and slept in.

My husband works from home full time now, it started yesterday.  I knew Haley would get up and go about her business.  I assumed she would probably be on the laptop when I got up.

She was.

I decided to make muffins.  We waited for them to cool and then we ate some.  I sat down at the computer and sent a few emails.  Then my husband came downstairs and said he was going to go for a walk. 

Then the phone rang and he was once again engaged.

I told Haley that I was going to take my shower, kissed her on the head and headed upstairs.

When I came out of the shower.  Haley was standing there with a pair of jeans and a t-shirt in her hands.  "Walk," she said.

Oh crap.

She knew her Dad wanted to go for a walk and she assumed that she would go with him.  The thing was that I had figured out by then that he had already left.  I told her that I needed to get dressed and then we would get her dressed.

She wouldn't be denied.  We were going for a walk.

I got her dressed and put her shoes and coat on her and then went to the closet to get my shoes.  She got her purse and headed for the garage.  I told her that we weren't driving, we were walking.  I took her purse and set it down on the floor and gently pushed her to the front door.  We headed out.  She didn't complain, but I know my daughter and I could tell by her body language that she was not happy.

We walked around the block.  We saw a dog.  It barked at us, at first she jumped and was a little scared.  I said "Oh, look at the puppy."  She said, "Oh, cute puppy."  We laughed and had a little conversation about the puppy. 

She was carrying her iPod, a song came on that she likes and she started signing to it.  I sang along.  I deluded myself into thinking that she was enjoying her walk.  As we turned at the next corner she said "Walk." 

I said "We are walking."  She started protesting and said "Walk" about six more times.  Each time the volume went up just a little bit. 

Then she said "Road."  I turned and looked at her.  The look on her face was very serious. 

She said, "Road," again. 

"You want to walk on the road?" 

"Yes." 

"Haley, you want to walk on the road by the river so that you can see the train tracks, don't you?" 

"Yes."

I knew that.  I wasn't just guessing, but I was really impressed by the choice of word.  Road.  That is really awesome!  She got her point across.  That is what words are for.  I was so proud of her. 

I didn't want to go to the river though.  I am not always accommodating to her.  I told her that we would walk down by the river after lunch.  She wasn't happy with me, but she accepted it.

We ended up going for that walk around 3:00 pm.  Her Dad went with us.  It was really cold, the wind was coming off of the water.  We didn't walk the whole way, we walked about half the distance we usually do and I gave up.  We headed back.

Haley got to see her train.

She was happy.