Why walk when you can skip?

I remember when my little one was just starting to walk. The push for those early steps. Google searches and advice from other parents on how to do it. Eventually, she did it on her own time. Now she’s twirling and learning ballerina moves. That reminds me, I gotta put that girl in dance lessons once everything settles down a bit more.

We thought our son would learn earlier, wanting to catch up to his sister. We got the same suggestion scroll on how to get him to walk but with him our response was different. “He’ll walk on his own time, we are in no hurry” I would tell people. Sure enough, he took those steps when he was good and ready. Now he holds Dusty Crophopper by the wings and runs from one side of the living room to the other pretending to be an airplane while listening to the soundtrack on Google.

For any parent out there who doesn’t know when their little one will walk, or want to encourage it, don’t worry too much about it. They will do it on their own time. And once they start, there is NO stopping them. For more tips on that, head over to the Zulily blog and check out my post.

I’ve started a tradition with my girl that on Fridays, we have ice cream after school. I pick her up and we either get something yummy from the ice cream man if he’s around or go to a nearby ice cream shop and hang out for a bit. It’s been such an awesome little break and a chance for the two of us to just be together.

We don’t go anywhere fancy, just your run-of-the-mill Baskin Robbins (or something generic like that). While there are amazing ice cream shops here in the Bay Area (I heart you Bi-Rite, Mitchell’s and Salt & Straw), my girl wants plain ol’ chocolate without any bells and whistles. After we park the car, we skip.

“Skip with me mommy!”. And we do. All the way to the ice cream shop. It’s so much fun.

We eat our ice cream on the benches, walk around and see what shops have inexpensive little gifts to buy and just hang out. We’ve bought a metallic gold-painted ladybug rock (complete with eyelashes) and a bunch of beautiful sunflowers. Then we head back home, to the normalcy of life and watch some TV and eat dinner before it’s time for bed.

It’s great to get away from the daily grind and do something just for the two of us. I’m sure something will develop between my son and I and I’ll love it just the same.