Older Child Wearing

I thought I would share the wonderful experience I had this evening carrying my 3 year old. I announced after dinner that I was going for a walk and Eric said he would watch the kids. Erica said that she wanted to come with me, so I offered her to ride in the stroller, but she said she wanted to ride in her backpack instead. She isn't comfortable in the mei tai anymore, so reluctantly, I went to the garage to get her backpack, which is a Snugli brand carrier with a backpacking frame that we use for serious hiking (and one backpacking trip - but that is a different post altogether!) I was dreading carrying an extra 30 pounds on my back around my hilly neighborhood! What I didn't know was that I was about to have one of the most rewarding half hours of my life!Whereas when she rides in her stroller I spend most of my time saying "What? Speak up, I can't hear you" and so on and so on . . . with her on my back I could hear every word she had to say. She asked me questions about all sorts of things we saw and heard along the way. It was after dark, so I was wearing a headlamp and she would ask me to shine my light on certain things. When I would stop talking back so much because I was huffing and puffing up a hill she would cheer me on with a chant of "Go Mommy Go!" I had my own personal exercise cheering section. It sure made the hills easier to climb! As I was walking I realized that we usually miss this sweet time on our walks because I simply can't hear what she has to say! I'm not a very sentimental person, but I recognized at that very moment that we made a memory that I would keep with me for the rest of my life, and that I needed to get it down on "paper" to help me remember. So there it is. Now the real question is weather or not I will be able to walk tomorrow! I'm sore already!