We thought we were being so reasonable. We did close to 7 miles at Muir Beach and thought we would attempt 3 miles at the Stanford Dish on Sunday morning. Only 3 miles! She can totally walk most of that, and when she's tired, we can take turns carrying her. We got this!
In hindsight, we obviously should have just brought a stroller. We wouldn't even have an interesting story to tell. "We went for a 3 mile walk at the Dish!" "Cool story bro."
 |
| this creature looks like it could probably walk 3 miles, no? |
Our first mistake (well, after not bringing a stroller) was underestimating how long it would take to walk 3 miles at Valerie speed. Another mistake was not bringing any lollipops. I have learned the hard way that I need to always, always keep lollipops on me. They are the easiest way to keep her happy and occupied in any circumstances. Of course I brought none. We had plenty of water, trail mix, and cheetos for snacks, but a critical shortage of lollipops.
So very many mistakes.
We started out walking at Valerie's usual walking pace; the pace of a turtle on Ambien. Since the path starts out at a steep incline upwards, we were moving even slower than usual, which I would hardly have believed possible. We made it up the hill though, calm and intact. As we reached the top of the initial climb, she began to crash, crying for water and to be carried. Rich agreed to carry her on his shoulders most of the next mile or so, including one thousand water breaks, to the satellite dish, where we stopped for a snack break.
The paved path gets pretty close to the dish, but there is a chain link fence preventing you from getting right next to it, and when Valerie realized she couldn't get any closer, that was the last straw. Cue extreme meltdown. We were not quite halfway through our 3 miles and she was crumbling fast. We plied her with snacks and water but it was becoming clear she needed lunch and a nap, ASAP.
As if the situation wasn't dire enough, next we added marital conflict. We were walking a 3.2-mile loop, and we had gone about 1.4 miles at this point. We weren't sure of these exact numbers; we had a general idea, but Rich felt that we should go back the way we came since it was the shortest way back, and I wanted to stay on course to finish the loop since we were about halfway.
Neither of us would budge. We were at a standstill, and Valerie started walking down the path to finish the loop. I followed after her and waited for Rich to catch up to us. He came up, grabbed her and lifted her onto his shoulders, and turned and headed back the way we came. I stood there, dumbfounded and infuriated, and Valerie began to cry as she noticed I wasn't with them. I finally turned and ran to catch up to them, and continued running past them, still furious. Seeing me run past them sent Valerie into full blown hysterics. I finally slowed down, took her and carried her for the next stretch, and she stopped crying as long as I held her. Then we tried to get her to walk for a bit, but it was too late, she was distraught and wailed the rest of the way back.
 |
| oh look! a photo of us at the end of our hike |
We made it back home for a long nap, but our day of fail was not over yet. We decided a nice dinner out would make for a better end to the day. I researched nearby restaurants that were kid-friendly, open later on Sunday, and had outdoor seating, and I thought either Coconuts caribbean restaurant or Vive Sol, a mexican place, sounded good. Rich picked Coconuts, so I jumped on the Opentable app and made a reservation for 7:30. They were only open til 8, but we had Valerie and would be eating quickly, so thought it should be fine.
We drove to Coconuts, parked in the garage, and walked over.... to a sign on the door that they were closed for a private party. This was particularly frustrating having just made a reservation. After a maddening exchange with the host, who did not seem to know what Opentable is, we left and went to Vive Sol, which was not on Opentable, but thankfully was open til 9.
Not so thankfully, we arrived at Vive Sol to learn they had a 45 minute wait for a table. Valerie was getting hangry by then so a 45 minute wait was a no-go. Crap! Now what? We needed to find something, fast. I looked at my map. Maldonado's Pizzeria was a block away. We didn't really want pizza but we were getting desperate. A comment on yelp said "This restaurant isn't a fancy place for a sit down, but that's okay..." so I thought, okay, it isn't much, but they must have some seating.
We zoomed over there to find that, nope... no seating. Just a takeout/delivery place. And we are now at three strikes. We are desperate. It's past 8:00. We need to feed our toddler before she explodes. WE WILL FIND FOOD SOMEWHERE IN THIS TOWN! We need a place that is open, with no wait, and seating at 8 pm on Sunday night. SURELY SUCH A PLACE EXISTS AND WE WILL FIND IT!!!!
Fortunately, on our fourth try, we succeeded. Amber India was another two blocks down, and I called them to make sure they were open and had no wait. Yes, they were accepting diners until 9:30. THANK YOU SWEET BABY JESUS. We will eat dinner! Valerie was crying at this point, bewildered by our many exits from and returns to the car.
We pulled up to Amber India, parked, and tried to calm her as we walked in. The host smiled at her and she switched to shy mode, which at least was not active crying. We were seated at a table and I gave her a lollipop while we browsed the menu. Lollipop to the rescue! She was finally happy.
Now we faced another problem: what is this picky child going to eat at an Indian restaurant? Oh dear. Wait! How about naan? Yes, we'll get some butter naan, she'll eat that. What else? Naan doesn't seem like quite enough... oh! What's this chicken on a stick appetizer? Let's get that.
We ordered drinks, a beer and a cocktail, and our naan came, and Valerie devoured it as I set pieces in front of her. Okay. Everything is going to be all right.
My champagne cocktail tasted like the water of life. Happy bubbles on my tongue. We had the curried scallop appetizer, which was amazing. The first bite was pure, spicy, creamy relief from the desperation that had been building. I told myself to slow down, savor each bite, rather than scarfing it as fast as possible.
The chicken on a stick arrived and I was struck by brilliant inspiration: "Look Valerie, mmm! Chicken lollipops! Here, have a chicken lollipop!" It worked. She ate 3 whole chicken skewers and all her naan, and her hanger subsided.
Everything we had was delicious. Navratan korma, chicken tikka masala, rice, naan, champagne, beer... we filled our bellies with our Indian feast and I decided I want Indian food for every meal from now on. Mmmmm.
Our epic fail Sunday had a happy ending and we discovered we can bring Valerie out for Indian food, which was the best and most unexpected thing we could have discovered. Chicken lollipops for the win!
And the next time somebody has the brilliant idea to bring a toddler on a hike... bring lollipops and a stroller. Noted.
No comments:
Post a Comment