Hazel’s two biggest passions at the moment are music and walking. The former she appreciates fully; she bounces and bops the same to a Bob Marley song, the theme music for Elmo’s World, or a snazzy jingle for dishwashing detergent. The latter she cannot do without assistance from a person or piece of furniture. While Megan and I are more than happy to help her amble along, her hands in ours, it does bother the back a bit to walk around with your torso parallel to the floor. Lucky for us someone (I think my parents though Christmas is kind of a blur) bought us the Stride-to-Ride Lion. The idea is that a toddler still getting used to self-ambulation can use the wheeled cat as support and, when old enough to walk on their own, can fold the handle into the lion’s back which doubles as a seat. Then it’s all the fun of pushing yourself around on a plastic king of the jungle. This handy little thing combines Hazel’s two passions.

By gripping the purple handle, Hazel can stroll around fairly unassisted. The lion also plays a handful of poppy songs when it is pushed especially forcefully or when its nose is pressed. We still have to stand guard since she sometimes forgets to keep stepping forward while pushing the lion ahead. More than once she’s wound up flat on her face like a bowler who forgot to let go of the ball. Thankfully she only has a short way to fall and we usually catch her in time. Usually. And while this is fun and all, Hazel likes it even more when we fold the handle down and place her on the lion’s back. She’ll just sit there, happy as a clam to be on her mount. Typically, she’ll lean forward, press his nose to start the music, and just dance away. The song ends, her dancing subsides, and she leans forward again to smack the nose and bring on the next instrumental. Oh, and the lion also occasionally “roars” before or after songs. I use quotes because it sounds more like Charles Nelson Reilly after last call.

My mental blueprint for this post is threatening to spin out towards a larger discussion about music, so I think I’ll end here and post that separately. Let’s just say that I love Hazel’s innate interest in music. I know odds are I will dislike whatever bands/artists she fanatically follows as a teenager, at least for now, we can both agree that the theme song for Super Why! saves our day every time.