Elliot on the Strider

He's getting better and better. The bike rides this time of year are few and far between. I think he's going to really get into it this Spring.

Bikes

I took the boys for a bike ride together last week. Elliot is getting pretty good on the strider, just walking/running with it. Keeping him on task though was a bit challenging. It would have been fine with just E, but Noah would get to the end of the block and be laying in the grass for several minutes waiting for us to catch up. So we only went down one block and back. E had fun riding at first, but then felt the need to stop to play with everything. He also got pretty contrary when I tried to help steer him quickly across the street, pushing me away and screaming. And then there was the whole turning off the sidewalk and wanting to ride his bike in the middle of the street thing..... yeah, he's not quite "there" yet, but it was still fun!

Park day

Just a typical day at the park. Except for the fact the boys were actually clean (yes, it was still morning), dressed cute & matchy-matchy. Plus, I had my camera in tow :)

Going fast on the bike trail. Even when he's got speed and gliding he still will periodically put his feet down and run like heck to go even faster.

Much appreciated break from pushing the swing addict

Top of the monkey bars

Now, how does Noah do this?

Poor E wanted to play in the sand, but Noah had other ideas for him. He has no qualms about just picking him up and moving him to play where he sees fit.

Bikeride to Brookside

Last night when Paul got home from work, I rushed the boys home from the church where we were playing and riding bikes. This was Noah's first time on his Strider to ride into Brookside. Paul rode his bike too, and I followed with Elliot in the jogging stroller. Let me tell you, he is SO much faster on this bike than his old one with training wheels. I got in a pretty good little workout. We stopped to play at Border Star's playground and then canceled the calories out that we burned eating dinner at Jalapenos.

That's it, Spring is my new fave season.

Fall has always been my favorite. There is so much to love about the Fall. But, after this long, cold and snowy winter, I've decided Spring is my favorite. This is a typical way to burn a couple hours on a nice Spring afternoon. Love the sun. Love the fresh air. Love being outside. Love that we have great parks in Brookside. Love that we can walk or ride bikes to the grocery store, to get ice cream, the toy store, the dime store, out to eat, etc. Yep, Spring is my new fave.

So handsome!

Yep, he did it by himself. He's already a climber!

Having much fun, Elliot?

His hair cracks me up in this one! You should probably double click to enjoy in all it's glory.

Noah made a 5 year old friend named Jett yesterday.

We heart the sand!

Brudders are so sweet.....when they aren't fighting.

Noah riding his bike without training wheels!

I apologize for my annoying voice! I will get better video's soon. He also likes taking it off road. At the end I said something about brakes. Right now it's 100% foot powered, but we'll take it in (today) to have a hand brake installed now that he's going down hills fast. As it is, he turns and goes up hill to stop or slows himself down by putting his feet down.

First Day of Spring 2010

"In the spring I have counted one hundred and thirty-six different kinds of weather inside of four and twenty hours."

~Mark Twain

Twain (Samuel Clemens) grew up in Missouri...It was nearly 70 degrees the two days' prior.

Training Wheels? Who needs 'em!

Today was a BIG milestone for Noah! We just told you about his Strider bike in the post below. He's had it less than 2 weeks and I can't believe he did this so fast. Today he "got it". He figured out that he can lift his feet and balance. We were going down the street to the church (slight downhill) and I saw him lift his feet and he wobbled a bit, but kept them up for several seconds! He got this gleam in his eyes and said "Mommy! I lifted both my feet and my bike go'd and go'd! That was FUN!"

When we were at the church he kept practicing it across this sidewalk that is goes East/West (not a steep hill). It was about 10 minutes later when he got the confidence to go down the big hill on the drive. He got it so fast! He kept his feet up from the top of the hill, all the way to the bottom, turned the corner and would put them down as he slowed going back uphill. He would yell "LOOK AT ME! LOOK AT ME! I'm gliding! Woohoo!"

We were out for about an hour, before we had to head back to put Elliot down for his nap. He was not a happy camper. After naptime, we spent a couple hours at the park. Noah may or may not have ridden his bike down suicide hill while we were there. My little daredevil! We rested about 15 minutes at home, had water and potty breaks before hitting the church again for bike riding into the evening. What a great day!

Noah's new running bike

Noah has loved biking since Paul taught him to ride a tricycle before his 2nd birthday. He picked up on it fast and was quite the little pro. He is on his 2nd big boy bike (first one got stolen) and has worn out the 2nd set of training wheels on said bike. Paul took the bike in to the bike shop for the 2nd time to fix the training wheels/get new ones and he got suckered into buying one of these strider running bikes. I have to admit I was skeptical and kind of annoyed he didn't come home with fixed training wheels.

These bikes have no pedals and the idea is you just walk/run with them and then kids naturally learn to lift feet and balance at a very young age. By 3 they should be able to ride bikes without training wheels. For a kid as advanced as Noah has always been in all things athletic and biking-wise there is no reason he shouldn't be able to do this at his age. But, going from training wheels to taking them off is a huge leap of faith and not a natural way to learn. I have to admit, once I researched it more, I was sold. And Noah is already doing awesome on it. He goes fast and is learning to lift his feet for short periods of time and glide. I'm hoping by the Fall we can put him back on his other bike without training wheels and hand this one down to Elliot in the Spring when he is two.

I will take some video soon to post of Noah, but check out this video on why these bikes are so much better than tricycles and bikes with training wheels for yourself.

Au Naturale

No time to bother with restrictive things like clothing...

Farewell Lightening McQueen

Yesterday morning I was walking with the boys to Brookside to hit up the Roasterie for a muffin, the Farmer's Market for some eggs and to stop and play at the school playground. This is a common Saturday thing we do. A lot of times Paul does it while I workout or I'll do it while he's busy around the house, and other times we all go together. Yesterday it was just me and the boys as Paul cleaned up the backyard.

I won't let Noah cross Wornall when I have both boys alone. So we usually park it right before we cross. Never have had a problem. Well yesterday I parked it by a tree at Meyer and Penn. Meyer is a busy road that people drive through that are not just in our neighborhood. Bad idea, Mandy! I also left his helmet on the handlebars.

We were gone about an hour and a half when we got back and the bike was GONE! I was so mad. Memories came back of when my Big Wheel was stolen. Some neighborhood kids witnessed a man put it in the back of his pickup truck as they yelled "That's Mandy's!". My mom later scoured the hood and FOUND IT! It had my initials on it, so there was no doubt it was mine. She rang the doorbell and demanded to know what it was doing in their driveway and let them know she was taking it back. They tried to dance around and play dumb, but she didn't let them get away with it. I thought my mom was SO cool that day and have never forgotten that.

Luckily Noah was distracted and happily walking, so he was fine. We bought a new bike and helmet yesterday afternoon, which actually fit him much better. The first bike was really too big for him anyway, even though he rode it well.

So, I've since told myself that instead of being mad at this punk that stole the bike, I'll just think about a boy who is poor and now has this really nice bike (never mind his dad is a crook). But, don't think I'm not scouring Craigslist ads just in case fantasizing about my own vigilante bike takeback!
(Will edit with pics tomorrow)

Last days...

It's crunch time and we're running out of days until life gets exponentially more complicated. It is two weeks until we're scheduled to welcome Elliot into the world. I know many people have managed to have two kids without going berserk, but at this point, I cant imagine how it can be done.

Any man who has been through a pregnancy knows that at this stage of the game, it is all about making her comfortable, and doing whatever she wants. So, with all the college football being played yesterday, I instead spent the night at the Celine Dion concert, worrying that the fact that Elliot was pounding on Mandy's body like a drum might mean we would be taking a trip to the hospital earlier than planned. Fortunately, he eventually went to sleep and we are still on schedule. This concert was originally scheduled more than a month ago, so we really didn't believe we would be going until the last minute.

As the show finished, Mandy got to tell Celine how amazing she thought the show was and shake her hand -- and she responded with gracious thanks. Trying to retrieve our car afterwards was almost futile, and eventually Mandy and her sister (and friend) took a cab back to the house while I waited for valet parking to come around. Unfortunately, the day's seasonably unusually high temperature of 65 degrees dropped to the 20's by that evening, and the wait seemed twice as long as it really was.

The temperatures that day were perfect for a boy that needs a certain amount of energy burnoff per day to function properly. Noah's been cooped up for quite a while, and turning him loose to ride his bike and to run around the block made us realize all over again how much he loves the outdoors. After riding his bike all over the place, he RAN around the block, and I mean completely around the block. Probably more than once considering he kept running up and down the sidewalk and ran about halfway around the block again after we went back to the house.

He has learned to appreciate the fun part of biking now that just riding it is old hat. He loves HILLS! He no longer needs a push to get momentum started going uphill. He pedals steadily and fast up hill with a serious face. And then when he gets to the top instead of just gliding down, he continues to pedal as fast as can be maniacally downhill. It is hilarious! And now we have to be sure he always wears his helmet!

After we arrived home from a joint trip around the block, we were both distracted for a minute feeding the dog and going to the bathroom. Looking up, we saw Noah had snuck out the front door and was peddling happily down the block again, by himself, grinning at us as we burst out the front door to chase him down. He was as sorry as we were to see the temperatures drop back into the 20's later that night.

This is our neighbor, Rob, that Noah just loves!

Serious business
He was getting ready to go down the big hill - pedaling as fast as he can!