Walkies!

Multiple times I've seen it almost happen, and three times last week it did: Nora escaped my grasp and took off like a bolt of curly-headed toddler lightning. You might think I must have my feet up in a chaise lounge sipping something with an umbrella in it and paging through some magazine, or at the very least chatting with an adult. Nope-- just making my way through the day with two daughters who are three and half years apart in age and light years apart in personality.

Luckily, all three times turned out to be relatively safe, low-stress occasions. I summarily scooped her out of the street when she plopped down in revolt from having her hand held as we crossed at the corner on the way to the park for a birthday party. I collected her when she bolted at both the General Reference Desk and yet again at the Circulation Desk as I paid my fines at the library. Of course, Fiona was integral in these instances. She is like having the eyes in the back of my head that mothers are purportedly born with. She helpfully bellows, "Moooooooooooommmmm! Nora's running again!" with each succeeding occurence. Insert blush (however grateful) here.

So today I did what I never in a million years suspected I would ever do. I went to the grocery store and picked up bread, milk, bananas, and a toddler harness. A soft, smiling, backpack-style harness with a pocket in back that's shaped like an adorable monkey, but a harness nonetheless. I've spent too many years as a dog owner not to feel, as well as see, the connections. I get it. Sigh.

So when our good friends laughingly said, "Oh, all the things we've said about people who've used those things, we'll have to amend that with-- 'except for Jen,' " I knew that I might not be ready to go public with this thing around my wrist. But we were slated to visit the library next, so with last week's indoor bellowing still bouncing around in my brain, I persevered.

Here's the bottom line: many, many people are not comfortable seeing children in harnesses. These people are fairly comfortable saying so, especially when it's not directly to the person using the harness. But Nora's harness is not used to drag her around, or for her to take me for walks à la Marmaduke. It's to keep her from using her new skills, walking and now running, from putting herself in harm's way. It assures that all three of us remain safely together in public spaces.

The tether detaches to become a backpack as soon as she's ready. Won't that be nice for everybody? In the meantime, she's walking around in her environment instead of being strapped into a stroller for all of our outings, and she's safe and secure. And while I'm still feeling a mite conflicted about the whole harness thing, I know I can at least feel good about that.