I have noticed that kids in strollers are getting bigger and bigger these days.  And by that I mean older and older.  It is a phenomenon that only seems to be occurring in the states from what I have observed.  We have taken our little one out for walks since she was in what we called “the pizza oven.”  It was a part of the stroller that was more of an insulated bassinet for infants.  She was graduated from that to a car seat “basket” and then on to a reclining chair complete with cup holder and snack tray.  Personally, I think she has just gotten soft.  Why should she walk?  And so she hasn’t.  Today was the day we cut her off — cold turkey.  OH the outrage!  The indignation!  The INJUSTICE!  Who would carry her snacks?!  What about her water?  Her daddy and I pretended to ignore the hollering and the drama of it all.  She countered with a sit-down strike.  We just kept hooking up the wolfies and then I asked if SHE would like to walk Chin Chin (my late mother’s one-eyed Shih Tzu.)  Her tears tried instantly, she stood up, and proudly proclaimed “YES!”  “Well BABIES can’t do that,” I said, striving for nonchalance.  “You’re a big girl now.”  And so began our very first family walk where all three of us were actually walking.  She was able to take in more without the cover of the stroller and feel more as she was propelled by her own two feet.  She paused to collect leaves and we brought them home to put in her leaf book.  We just took the short loop over a bridge that crosses over our creek but it was still a little over a mile walk.  She only showed signs of getting tired right before we got home.  I think she did well for her first time out.  The Scottish-American naturalist John Muir once said, “In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks.”  I think that is just what we all did … on our first real walk.