My Ella is officially a walker. Up until now, she'd stand on her own, but when it came to getting from Point A to Point B, she'd drop to her knees and crawl there. This evening, she held onto the edge of her playpen, made it to the coffeetable, then I picked up one of her pacifier straps and dangled it about 2-3 feet out of reach - and she took 2-3 wobbly steps, grabbed the strap and collapsed on me in a fit of giggles.
I nearly burst into tears.
I scooted backwards a few more feet on the floor, and Tom dangled another strap just out of her reach. She stretched out her little arm, took a couple more steps this time, and collasped on Tom. We kept this up for about 15 minutes or so, widening the gap between us each time.
A half-hour later, she was walking from our living room, through the kitchen, and down the hall to the bathroom, completely unassisted. Then she went into the bathroom, where Tom was...indisposed...she knocked down all of the washcloths and wobbled over to Tom, giggling wildly.
I'm so, so, so proud of my baby.
Now, my question. Well, really, I'm just looking for opinions from parents, but everyone is welcome to chip in their two cents. It's something I used to think I had a solid opinion about, but now that I have a child, my opinion has completely changed.
My question: how do you feel about those backpack/harness "baby leashes"?
We didn't buy it ourselves, but when I was pregnant, a friend of Tom's mother gave us a ton of baby stuff, and included was a puppy backpack with a harness/clip thing in the front, with the puppy's tail as the leash. My first opinion was, "Oh my God, who would do that to a child? How humiliating!"
Now that my baby is mobile, and seems to be determined to stay that way, and coming up at a summer full of trips to amusement parks, I am thinking differently.
With the world the way it is now, I really think it would make more sense to put Ella in the harness. I don't want to spend hours upon hours looking for my sweet, innocent baby in an amusement park because she wandered off - or worse. It makes sense to keep her attached to us, but still allow her a little bit of freedom and protection.
Am I completely off base? I would love to hear what everyone has to say.
I actually want to get one for Ava. She is too big for the stroller but still too little to walk herself. And in the amusement park setting, she not really wanting to hold hands because there is soo much to see.
ReplyDeleteI can't help but laugh when I see, say, an eight-year-old in a harness with a leash strapped to them. But for a toddler, I think it is totally acceptable, and actually really cute. I don't have any kids of my own yet, obviously, but even just having been responsible for a child's well being before, I know that there is nothing worse than that "OMG, WHERE ARE THEY?!" feeling you get when they leave your sight for a second. I can't even imagine an amusement park setting with a toddler! And really, if you think about it, the leash is much more "freeing" than a stroller! I say go for it!! At least until she's a teenager, lol.
ReplyDeleteIn reply to Jessica...at least til college...
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