Walking with a toddler

On Monday night, Eli and I walked (15 minutes) to the park to feed the ducks (another 15 minutes and another blog entry). Smart mommy gave Eli a sucker to have in the stroller. Not so smart mommy didn't have anything for the way back. This is when Eli decided he should walk with me. Let me tell you about walking with a toddler. Its the best experience in the world- if you have a couple of hours to spare, and you're not doing it as a form of exercise. We stopped to pick up sticks, pick leaves, throw leaves, find "my favorite leaf", look at rocks (at several different places), splash in mud puddles, read church signs, look at flowers, touch pine needles, and probably a few more things that I have failed to mention. Eli did eventually get back into the stroller, and we stopped at Jake's house to play for a few minutes, but our 45 minute round trip to the park turned into a 2 hour field trip.