The Standoff

T is a stubborn, challenging little man right now. He often needs to be reminded that he's not in charge, that he gets a lot more flies with honey than whining and that his life would be much easier if he just listened to his parents.

At Mount Vernon Friday, we had several such lessons. The walk from the wharf back up to the mansion is about 1/2 of a mile at a 15% grade. I had 18 pounds of F strapped to my front and was pushing the stroller. It was in the mid-80s. T walked a few minutes up the hill and then decided that he was going to get in the stroller. Um, not so much.
I wasn't trying to be mean. I just wasn't carting 35 pounds of high-energy preschooler in addition to F and stroller. T is one of those kids who wants to walk everywhere ... unless it's not fun. And so I asked him to get out of the stroller and walk.
"No!" he said. "Ok T," I said, "then we'll just stay here until you're ready to get out and walk." "Fine!" he said. And so we did. About 5 minutes passed while I read the brochure, checked my phone, and chatted with F. "Mommy, I want to go see something else!" "So would I! As soon as you get out of the stroller and walk, we can go do that." "No!" And so we waited. Every once in a while we had the same conversation. I got nothing but time kiddo.

Finally, after about 15 minutes he decided to get out of the stroller and walk. Wouldn't you know it, he didn't get back into the stroller until we left the estate. Sorry kid, I'm still (a little) more stubborn that you.