Family walks are yours

Before becoming a mother, I was rather a homebody. When I didn't have to go to work, do the grocery shopping, have dinner at friends' places or visit my family, I very much enjoyed staying quietly at home, and my partner felt the same way. Since our son was born, however, and more and more as he grows, it is rare that we stay cooped up at home all day (and a good thing too!). Between free movement workshops, music sessions, parent-baby yoga and afternoons at friends' places (almost all of whom have children), our days are very full (and I'm only talking about the week, when I'm alone with my boy). But, even though we have a large garden, we quickly do the rounds of it and, the grass always being greener on the other side (quite literally), expanding our territory quickly became essential. Fortunately, for that very purpose there is a place that could be described as the place to be for children, and it goes by the name of: the park. Oh, how lovely the park is! It's big, it's green, it's full of trees and grass, you find pebbles there, sometimes sand, lots of play equipment and above all other children (and parents)! It's a place where you feel less hemmed in and freer in your movements. Not far from us there happens to be one, particularly pleasant (we live in the countryside), truly unspoilt, and we always go there with great pleasure. At the beginning, when my boy was only a few months old and only when the weather was very fine, I would settle him, nice and warm, in the baby wrap, and we would go for a walk there for half an hour or an hour at least three times a week (he generally slept, so it was mostly me who enjoyed the scenery). As he grew, he started staying awake longer, and outings to parks or even to local squares (I use the plural, as we tried several) became genuine moments of pleasure for him (which doesn't stop him from falling asleep against me at the end of a walk, or against his dad, when all three of us are out). The only difference is that for the past few months we have swapped the wrap for the baby carrier, quicker and easier to put on in our opinion, especially once his hips started to naturally widen. Speaking of sleeping, just the other day and despite bitterly cold weather, we met up with a couple of friends and their two children in a park not far from us (another one — we're very lucky!). We settled on the grass, on a blanket, with warm throws over our legs, tea and little biscuits, and chatted quietly, while our friends' two children played and our son… slept in the baby carrier. The whole thing lasted a good two hours, but our little boy was so comfortably settled, snuggled against his dad, that he barely caught a glimpse of the sky, too busy dreaming… Today, at thirteen months, he has just discovered walking, and it's a new way for him to experience outings. He sees things differently, is (just a little) less interested in blades of grass and pebbles that he used to love pulling up and collecting (it's probably in his pockets we'll find them soon, but that's for later), and seems to enjoy outings even more in general. Also see our article on holidays with baby!