Toddler's not-so-excellent adventure
The lake was beautiful. A bright blue swath of water cutting through the hills, the slight waves slapping, almost apologetically, against the shore.
The occasional speed boat buzzed by, pulling water skiers and kids on inner tubes. A gaggle of Canada geese lifted from the shore as we approached and flew a slight way over the lake, landing in small sheets on the water.
Yeah, it was beautiful, and our toddler was having none of it.
My wife and I had let him out of his stroller as we approached the lake with the plan of carrying him close to the water. We thought he'd enjoy it. He'd never seen that much water in one place before. It was more than the pool, the bathtub and his overnight diaper _ combined.
He grunted and started pushing his stroller back up the gravel path toward the picnic grounds, his little arms and legs working hard to maneuver something a lot bigger than himself.
"What's he doing?" I asked my wife.
She shrugged as she watched him move the stroller a few feet.
"He's leaving."
I smiled and patted the front pockets of my shorts. He wasn't going anywhere. I had the keys.
We'd planned a great summer day at the lake. We left early, before it got the kind of hot that made summer feel less like the Midwest and more like the arctic region of Venus. We packed a picnic lunch, loaded up on water bottles and brought the camera for all sorts of moments popular with grandparents' refrigerator doors. This was all planned with the satisfaction of knowing we'd be among the few people at the lake without boat payments.
Trouble was, the Toddler didn't care about the lake. He'd already had a bad day.
Halfway into our 20-minute drive to the lake, he fell asleep. We peeled him out of his car seat, put him in the stroller, went to the playground, applied sunscreen and still had to pretend we were being attacked by a bear before he woke up.
We played on the swing. We played on the slide. We played on a piece of equipment I was so unfamiliar with I wasn't sure if it was put in the playground on purpose or if it had landed there from a galaxy far, far away.
Things were going well, so we went on a nature walk. The Toddler didn't want to go on a nature walk.
We went to the beach. He didn't want to go to the beach.
We went to the playground to slide some more. He didn't want to slide anymore.
We went to a picnic table to eat lunch. He didn't want lunch.
We got in the car and started for home. He fell asleep. I guess all he wanted was to take a nap and we wouldn't let him. At 19 months, he's not old enough to communicate with words other than "dog," "ball," "bath," "milk," "juice" and the occasional "balloon." He didn't know how to tell us where to get off.
It's rough being a kid.
