All about Mari and walking

Mari is walking! She had been taking small steps since December, but just in the last two weeks she has started walking everywhere. She doesn't like to ride in her stroller anymore and wants to walk 100% percent of the time. This is a problem when we are shopping, because she won't hold hands and tends to wander. When I go after her, she shrieks like we are playing the most fun game ever and moves her little legs as fast as they can go in the opposite direction of me. It's kinda cute. My solutions are:

 a) Bring lots snacks and toys and bribe her to ride in the stroller (this works really well since she loves food and will sit still as long as she has something good. We went to the mall this morning and Mari sat perfectly well for an hour clutching a french fry in one hand and a cup of puffs in the other. I was glad she didn't seem to care about eating the greasy fry. She just wanted to hold it)

b) Go shopping when she is tired and let her have her pacifier and Darcy. This only works when she is very tired.

Mari has had a couple tantrums in public, but it hasn't bothered me like I thought being the parent of a crying child in public might. It's usually happened close to lunchtime and at the end of a trip when all her patience is gone and I have a lot more sympathy than I imagined possible. I think shopping with her will get easier after the next year or so, once she is old enough to understand that she has to stay right near me.In the meantime, I am looking for ways to make going out with Mari easier that don't involve food .

On another walking related note, we bought Mari her first pair of sneakers over the weekend.

 Up until now, she only had dress shoes and soft soled leather boots. She really needed shoes better suited to wet and dirty surfaces. Thanks to an awesome groupon to Once Upon a Child, we bought her some Nikes - size 5! She loves them and I love them, and Daniel picked them out so I guess he loves them too. Mari enjoys wearing shoes. I was worried she would untie the laces, but she doesn't. Throughout the day, she'll totter up to me with an armful of shoes, hold out as far as her arms can reach, and say in baby language, "Mommy, put my shoes on NOW! I can't do a thing until you put my shoes on please, please, please."