Suvo and I came up with a brilliant idea. We will take the kids for a walk after dinner until they are sleepy - to ease the everyday bed time struggle to some degree. Ofcourse, the side benefits were that we could revive our failed exercise program and also get some chance to talk to each other while enjoying some outdoor time this gorgeous summer. It will make for many memorable evenings. All in all a fantastic idea, too good to be true.
Well, on more than one occasion, I have learnt that when something feels too good to be true, it usually is. And this incident was no exception.
The first time it happened spontaneously enough. I had taken Aadi for a walk some evenings. One evening Diya insisted to join and then after only after walking for half a block declared that her legs were too tired. So we came back home to fetch our big bicycle stroller which can seat both the kids. While we were at it, we fetched Suvo as well! It was getting some what late in the evening, but we kept going and by the time we returned both kids were fast asleep in the stroller and mildly snoring. Hurray !! That's when it hit us that we should be doing this everyday.
The next evening, we decided to head out early as the mosquitoes had declared a war on us as we were out after dusk the previous evening. We gave the kids a bath and fed Diya dinner (with the bribe of a walk and dubious hints about going the Swan Lake park if she finished dinner without any theatrics). Aadi had already had a big meal at his daycare so we figured we will give him some snack on the way and his nightime bottle once we are back. So with many hopes we started from home. Diya as usual insisted that she is a big girl and she will walk all the way; and as usual after 10 steps wanted to get in the stroller. We had planned for this and were prepared this time and had brought the bigger stroller along. So on we went. We had barely reached the end of the lane when Diya commanded us to turn around and head back "right now" - she needed to go potty. So we rushed back. Aadi was starting to fuss by now so I urged Suvo to go around the block once while I helped Diya with her business. Suvo did the round and came back to find us in an uproar. I had forgotten to close the garage door in the hurry to get Diya to the restroom quickly and Maple had used this golden opportunity to escape. She did not go far but made it clear that she was not going back in the house. She wanted to come for a walk with us. We gave up on catching her after chasing her around the yard for sometime and figured we might as well bring her along. She can use the family bonding time as well. And so we started yet again on our odyssey. This time with the whole family, including the member with floppy ears and fuzzy tail.
We did not get very far though as Aadi started wailing. He was hungry. So I made another quick trip to the house to get a bottle for him. Diya was feeling cold, so I got her a blanket too. This time nothing could stop us. Diya offered to feed Aadi on the walk. We had barely made our way past our next door neighbor Cathy's house though that we had to make another pit stop. Maple pooped. I ofcourse collected the goods but did not want to carry it all the way for our long walk. So I ran home to make a deposit in the trash before finally heading out. I re-joined our little caravan, which was still parked in front of Cathy's house, and saw the most amazing sight, Diya was feeding Aadi his bottle and Aadi was cozy in her arms. They were so cute together !!! I had to capture this moment in the camera so (for the last time) I sprinted home to get the camera. It could not have taken me more than 90 seconds, but when I got back it was as if the director had called 'cut' and a different scene was being shot. Aadi was bawling, Diya was looking very grim; Suvo looked stunned and Maple, blissfully oblivious, was now rolling in Cathy's freshly mowed lawn. It took me a few seconds to take it all in. I asked Suvo what had happened and he had no answer; I asked Diya what happened and she refused to answer. Meanwhile, Aadi doubled his screams as he saw me. I started to unstrap him from the stroller to pick him up, this made Diya feel neglected and she started crying 'Mamma uppi....'.
Well that was that .... the end of our ambition to take the kids for a walk until they fall asleep. It took us the rest of the evening and whatever was left of our energy to calm the kids down and put them to bed. Suvo and I collapsed after that without dinner. It indeed was a memorable evening.
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