Getting Carried Away

Liam started walking at 10 months. We kind of thought he’d walk early – it was really the best way for him to keep up with Zachary, and goodness knows, he LOVES doing whatever his big brother is doing. He even went through a phase a few months ago where I’d go into his class to pick him up in the afternoon, and he’d push the door open and march himself down the hallway to Zachary’s class, and then we’d all walk out to the car together holding hands. Those days are LONG gone. Liam has decided after a full 8 months of walking that walking is just for the birds. Or suckers. Or really anyone but him. He now insists on being carried everywhere we go. From the car inside the house. Up the stairs. Down the stairs. Into the neighbor’s yard. Into school. Out of school. Everywhere we go. And you know, nobody’s getting any smaller as he gets older either. Whenever you pick him up he makes kind of a groaning/grunting sound. It’s actually the sound that whoever is picking him up should be making, since he is getting so big. It’s kind of funny – till you realize that you’ve been had. Sometimes we try to make him just walk himself, but then he flings himself onto the floor in a full-scale tantrum. That’s fine, if we’re at home. But it’s not necessarily something we want to encourage or endure out in public. And it’s also something we don’t really want to deal with if we’re in a hurry (which is often). So what do we do? We pick him up & carry him. Sigh…I told Josh last night that one day we’re probably going to have to lug him into his dorm room at college because he’ll throw a tantrum if we try to make him walk by himself. I know that this is like pacis and potty training – there aren’t many (if any) 15-year-olds still using a paci or not potty trained. But it’s definitely frustrating that we had that independent streak where he wanted to walk everywhere & now he’s back to wanting to be carried all the time. I know some day I will look back on this & wish I could carry him some more (the day when he’s busy rubbing kisses off of his face because he’s embarrassed by us), but right now, my arms are killing me.