Love Words and Toddler Leashes

I have been on a steady climb up the Denim Quality Ladder for a long time. I started with "vintage" jeans from thrift stores, moved up to No Boundaries at Walmart, then made the jump to Old Navy, where I have been for a long time.
For a girl from the poor part of Kentucky (read: rilly rilly po'), Old Navy was glamour for me. Jeans long enough to fit my legs (i am like, 30 % torso and 70 % leg), with lots of different washes, and $30.00 a pair?!? Kinda pricey, but worth it. :)
But this weekend...I found a new love.
His name is Z. Cavaricci.
His jeans are like butter. Seriously. So comfortable, it is like wearing sweatpants. So cute, I have no qualms about wearing my "I brought sexy back" t-shirt. Trendy, but still classic enough to last through a few seasons. I want to talk about them ALL THE TIME. Jason says I need to stop.
They were $52 a pair.
More than half my monthly clothing allowance.
I don't care.
If you go by use, they will more than pay for themselves. Within a month, I bet.
Anyhow, enough of that. Onto the next!
While I was in the mall buying the jeans to end all jeans, Jason was watching Violet. Watching her run out of the store and down the center of the mall, then taking off after her. She found her way onto the runway of the Baby Gap fashion show that was going on, over to the kids coloring station, then back to the store. With Jason tailing after her the whole time.
We decided...it is time for a leash.
Yesterday, while researching them online, Jason came across this little gem.
The thing is, lady, that my kid has freedom and independence coming out the wazoo. She is smart. She explores. She solves problems when she comes across them. All with a highly-involved mother and father cheering her on the whole way. We encourage her to go on adventures. We wouldn't do anything to squelch her inquisitive, hyperactive spirit. Which is why we don't have a playpen.
(What?!?!
Did she go there?!?!)
Yep. I sure did.
I know not to fight bile with bile. I am just trying to explain my point of view. When we are home, the monkey we call Violet has run of the house. She can explore all she wants. We keep the dangerous things out of her reach, we shut the toliet lids, and keep anything we don't want her to break in the cupboards she can't get into. But I never see any reason to keep her in a 3x2 box, no matter what we are doing. She "helps" us clean. She plays. Yes, it is annoying when she turns off the TV in the middle of Top Chef, but that is nothing to make her serve time for. And it has been that way since she was born. We didn't fence her in, and now...she is comfortable enough to explore her surroundings.
This might not work for your kiddo. Some babies want the walls around them. Some need that security to be comfortable. That is fine.
Mine does not. She wants to be free. She worked really hard to learn to run, and now she wants to do it A LOT. The leash is not to keep her from doing that. The leash is to help us keep up with her. We don't want her to heel. We want to be able to follow the monkey tail and know which rack she just crawled under. Or up. And I refuse to feel bad for that.
Plus, as the incomparable Miss A says, it is a lot harder for the pedophile to snatch your daughter when she is attached to you.