Six Legs Walking

We took Grafton for a walk this evening, after the weather cooled off. He had eaten a healthy portion of his dinner and seemed full of energy, and we thought he might be willing to do most of this walk on his own.  With stroller and backpack left behind in the trunk of the RAV4, we headed out for our regular Mount Holyoke College lower lake loop walk.  Grafton did great!  He stayed focused on the path ahead and ran and walked ahead of us and along side us.  We stopped to watch a pick-up game of Ultimate Frisbee, but before long he was back to walking.  He crossed over the lower lake dam bridge on his own, and kept up a brisk pace along the east side of the lake.  A pair of young ladies were out jogging, and he pointed out to us that they were in fact "running!"  He ran alongside for a couple of seconds, but couldn't keep up.  Before long we were around the lake.  Grafton stopped for a bit to play in a gazebo, and while normally he would get interminably side tracked by such an activity, he soon decided that walking was more important.  We saw a couple of bunnies near the shore, and Grafton's quick approach made them dart away into the bushes.  He found that rather amusing.  Passing by a bike rack, he paused to make a loop around it, and checked out the left-behind bike chains.  But then, back to walking!  Over the bridge (parents carefully flanking on him on the sides), across the street (parents holding his hands, and explaining how to look for cars), and onto the gardens.  It took a little coaxing to convince him the gardens were worthwhile, but he soon agreed and set off for the destination with unwavering speed.  We looped through the paths of the garden, took a quick rest on a bench, and them more walking.  Grafton then climbed the full staircase (about 2 flights), hands free, right leg leading the way up each step.  He was huffing and puffing and even told us it was hard, but he never gave up.  Some more hand holding as we crossed another street (and another parental explanation of how to look out for cars), and then back into the grassy fields for...more running.  Another bicycle rack was nearby and he passed back and forth through its U-shaped profile.  After collecting and passing out some acorns to his parents, Grafton was back on the move.  Running down the hill to quad, we approached the large field in the middle. As we neared another bicycle rack, and we asked him this time how many bicycles there were, and he correctly reported the number "thwee".  Thinking it might be a fluke, and seeing three Adirondack chairs nearby, we asked him how many again, and "thwee" once again was his reply.  We decided to sit down for a rest in the chairs.  He enjoyed sliding back in the deep, sloped bottom of the Adirondack chair, and didn't even seem to mind smacking his head against the back rest once.  Soon, a small army of kids from a sports (?) camp entered the field and soon began sitting down around our chairs.  They were perhaps 8-10 years old.  Grafton was intrigued.  He watched as they gathered and kept his eye on a ball they were kicking around.  Eventually one of the kids decided to lay down on his back to rest, and Grafton pointed out that he was sleeping.  Grafton, who was probably tired from all the walking, mimicked the "sleeping" kid and laid down on the grass, looking up at the sky.  From his reclined position, he decided to start "exercising" (his words) and began lifting his legs, left first, then right, and so on.  The kids were beginning to watch him, thinking his antics were amusing.  Grafton must have noticed the growing audience, because he then turned over and performed a downward dog yoga move, looking at his audience upside down through his legs.  This achieved a positive reaction from the kids, and so he continued the show by moving to a modified downward dog pose with his left leg up in the air.  Then his right.  Back and forth.  The kids were now laughing and applauding our little guy.  We asked him if we was doing yoga and he confirmed the fact by repeating the word for everyone to hear.  Kids started asking him for high-fives, and he withdrew at this point, feeling pangs of shyness.  But after some more yoga moves, he felt renewed confidence and gave out a few high-fives.  It was already well past his bed time, but we couldn't get him to leave on his own volition.  We tried walking away about 50 feet, but he was fully content to remain where he was and even bid us a goodbye or two.  Eventually, we convinced him to leave and he said goodbye to the kids.  We carried him a bit at this point to try to get home soon, but he still had energy left to walk and run on his own, and so we let him.  Fortunately, we averted an almost certain visit to the emergency room, as Grafton was running down a hill toward a stone staircase.  Andrew saw the impending danger, worrying that Grafton might trip before reaching the staircase, and so ran over to intercept him.  And trip he did--he went flying head first toward the staircase!  Fortunately, Andrew caught Grafton's head with his hand just before impact.  Phew.  We carried him the rest of the way back.  We all look forward to our next walk together.