Urban Mom of 2 Adventure - Walking to Squirrel Hill

Our friend Meaghan invited us to play at her house this morning. I, of course, accepted because we are a little stir crazy here. So, then when I was telling Doug about our plans and he let me know that he actually needed the car. Hmm...

Option 1: take the bus. Includes walking to the bus stop with children, diaper bag, Koen's backpack, single stroller and babybjorn.

Option 2: walk. Includes pushing double stroller up Negley Hill between Shadyside and Squirrel Hill.

I went with Option 2. I thought it was going to take a lot longer, so I thought Tavin could nap on the way, eat when we got there, etc. Well, the walk (although very strenuous, wish I had a picture of the hill and my intense angle in order to push the 50 lbs. or so in front of me) ended up taking about 30 mins. Tavin did sleep, but didn't go back to sleep upon arrival at my friend's house. Eventually I fed him and then we all headed to the playground closeby.

Koen enjoyed the playtime at the house and was so excited to go off to the playground. He did well entertaining himself there (usually he wants me to be his playmate constantly). The mud puddle he found for his construction vehicles kept him quite occupied (including a messy splash that soaked his pants halfway up).

It was a lot colder than what I anticipated (thanks a lot WPXI weatherman), but we managed. I was plenty warm with all the walking, but I felt bad for Tavin, I didn't even bring him a sweatshirt. He stayed happy cuddled up in his blanket.

We walked home after the playground. I had to break it to Koen that we weren't taking the bus home as I originally thought it would be faster than walking on the way home, but it wasn't the case. He took it well, but I felt bad, it is such a special adventure for him. We'll have to go somewhere else soon on the bus.

The walk home was a little under 30 mins. Going down the Negley hill is scarier than going up. Going up is really tough, but going down is like a roller coaster where the car could un-latch and go down on its own at an ever increasing rate of speed. I prayed the whole way down that the Lord would help me keep control of the carriage. I had Tavin in the babybjorn so that he would have no chance of separating from me. Koen was completely naive to the situation and was happy all the way down. Actually, he was happy the whole trip amazingly enough. I felt so bad. His lips were definitely a cool shade of purple when we got home. Wet socks, shoes and pants, plus a misty rain can do that though. He's a good sport and never complained.

I have to give him props here too. This is probably our 6th or 7th outing outside the house with underpants and he doesn't have an accident. We tried going on the normal toilet there, but he was afraid of how big it was. We'll have to work on that eventually. But this kid can really hold it. Then he comes home and does #1 on the toilet here, gets 3 m&m's and happily prances off to the next thing. He's doing so well with toilet training, I'm so encouraged! It truly makes a difference when they are physically ready.