She Was Determined

So my daughter has been sick for a few days. She's got a runny nose and a cough. She hasn't been too cranky during the day but once in a while you can tell she feels miserable.

Today was a lot of ups and downs. During what I thought was a "down" moment; she was on my lap, dozing in and out of sleep, she shot right up. She hopped off my lap and motioned me to follow her. She walked right up to the front door and waited for me to open it. I put on her shoes and we went outside.

We walked out together and as I followed her to the sidewalk, she put out her hand for me to take and we started walking down our street. I let her take the lead and we walked to the end of the street so I turned around to go back home but that wasn't what she wanted. I wasn't prepared to take an urban trek so I quickly went back home with her, grabbed our backpack and set out again.

Again, she walked me to the end of our street, turned the corner and kept on going. We passed by various houses and she told me things like, "Look, tree." "Look, car." She sang some Yo Gabba Gabba songs and let her hand run across people's fences. She would hop over some of the sidewalk lines and inspect things on the ground. All of this at 5:30 pm, with a temperature of 105 outside. She led me around the block, so about half a mile altogether. When we turned back into our neighborhood she got a little tired so I carried her. We walked in, had a drink and she was happy.

We used to take walks all the time before we moved and I think being cooped up all summer because of the dreaded heat finally got to her. She just needed a short walk outside. The heat wasn't too bad and her little cheeks were flushed but it was nice.

I wonder where she'll take me next time.