Saturday, April 16, 2011

It's Going to Be A Two Wheelin' Summer

Snow?

So, as I mentioned last post, we've had some sunny days lately. You know, warm enough to get away with shorts....
On Wednesday night, I had two outfits ready for the boys for preschool. Outfit #1 - long shorts and a t-shirt in case it wasn't raining. Outfit #2 - jeans and a t-shirt in case it was raining.

AJ walked into our bedroom around 6:45am saying, "Mom, it's snowing!" We of course said something like, "No, that's crazy. It's not snowing. It's not 7:00 yet. You're not allowed out of bed yet. Get back in bed."

We woke up 15 minutes later and Richard, peaking out the window says, "Uh... Babe... guess what?"
Big potato chip flakes. Nothing plowed. Just unprepared craziness. It was beautiful, but annoying trying to get 3 kids to preschool when you're out of practice with mitts, scarves, and boots. It was gone by the afternoon. Perfect.



The Love of AJ's Life


Sorry, turn your head for these two.

AJ was going to be heading to Olivia's birthday party on Friday night, so we started getting her gift ready the day before. We got her a fun looking Strawberry Shortcake set that made me very happy and relieved that I don't have a little girl (Man oh man, between the cute clothes and the cool toys for girls, I'd be out of control!)

AJ's just making a nice card type thing with her name on it.

AJ loves Olivia, in case you didn't already know. This is the girl he says he will marry. We even had to give him a 'talk' before the birthday party since they were a little overly cuddly during the last playdate. I thought it was somewhat cute until Richard said, "But what if that was our daughter? Wouldn't we want to stop that?" So..

Friday's talk went something like this.
Me - "Okay, now, AJ. I need to talk to you before you go to Olivia's party. Hugging Olivia is okay, but I think I'm going to say no kissing and no laying down together."
AJ - "Oh. Why?"
Me - "Because laying down and kissing is for mommies and daddies, not little kids."
AJ - "But what if there's a couch? Then can I lie down? Like to watch a movie."
Me - "There won't be a couch."
AJ - "Everybody has a couch, Mom."
Me - "No, it's not at Olivia's house, remember? It's at Safari Kidszone."
AJ - "Oh ya. Okay."

In one ear and out the other.

According to one of the moms that I ran into after the party, AJ was quite the object of affection at the birthday. All the girls just loved him.

According to Richard, at the end of the party, Olivia and AJ shared not one, but TWO big hugs. She's pretty adorable.


Dexter loves cutting paper. He wanted to participate, so I gave him his own sheet to use with scissors and glue. The two boys were practically silent like this for the next 30 minutes.


Looks Like it's Going to be a Two-Wheelin' Summer

After using Jaxon's balance bike the last few weeks for Dexter (thanks for that, Jen). I decided to do what I did with AJ and just take off Dexter's training wheels and tell him to go for it. Now, I know Dexter only just turned three, but he's so ready, and he's just like my little brother, Paul, in so many ways, and this is just one of those ways.
I told him to just ride it like the balance bike for a while.
That was working, AND he was lifting up his feet and coasting, just like on the balance bike, but he wasn't too keen to try the pedaling like AJ did on his first two-wheeling day last spring.

No big deal, I just didn't want him to be afraid of the bike. Here's the next day, a little rainy. He starts coasting more and asking me to hold the bike a bit while he pedals.

Then he starts taking off on his own to try it more.


The blur is not a fall, as it would seem, but rather, me, chasing him so I can be there if he does. This is when he did his first pedals without training wheels.

Yesterday, we went up to Eagle Mountain, and it was there that Dexter truly was riding without the training wheels. He's not completely independent, but almost. I start off holding him under the arms a bit and then he's riding all by himself. Maybe I can get some video tonight.



YAY Dexter! So proud of you, little buddy!



Thank you, Mom, for taking the boys overnight!

Thank you, Kim, whose Christmas gift card for Boston Pizza we used last night for date-night dinner (with Dexter).

1 comment:

Tara said...

That's amazing! Way to go Dex!

(And I love the Olivia story...so cute!)