Shoulda named him Grace

Alex is so excited that it is finally getting warmer outside.  There's still a little nip in the air, but he stays outside as long as he can possibly stand it when we get home.  And he asked me if he could go swimming outside.  I cannot blame him one bit.  This winter has been a long one...bring on the sunshine and warmth.

Tuesday night he started talking about going for a bike ride as soon as his butt hit his car seat after day care. When we got home, I threw the leash on the dog and brought his bike outside.  This was only the second time he has ridden his new bike outside.  He's been riding it inside the house since Christmas, but since Old Man Winter has been busy working overtime, we've only hit the sidewalks once before.  And it was terrifying.  He can go so fast!  I could keep up with his tricycle; not a chance with the bike.  And we live in the city, so there are cars everywhere and intersections and people and dogs.  Scary.  He did fine and once again it was only me experiencing the fear of Zeus.

Back to Tuesday.  We headed out and he did a very good job of not getting too far ahead of me.  And when he was sticking right with me, he insisted on steering with only one hand so we could hold hands.  He does love me!!!  We covered some good distance which is a stark change from the tricycle days. I don't know if it was because he was so much closer to the ground or what, but that kid would stop and get off of that damn tricycle every 5 feet to inspect an ant or a leave or a crack in the sidewalk.  But on the big boy bike, he is on a mission to go fast.

There are a couple reasons I wish I would have videotaped our outing.  First, he spent the majority of the ride singing about how fast he was going.  Loudly.  About half way, he took a break from singing to get off of his bike and tell me he wanted to pee on the corner.  Nope nope nope.  You're a little too big for that to be cute enough to get away with it.  The thing that slayed me about that request was that he clearly didn't have to go that badly.  He took his sweet time getting home and then dilly-dallied around in the yard for a while before going in to use the bathroom.  So what then?  Did he just want to mark his territory?  Probably.

The biggest (and not very caring Mom) reason I wish I would have been a dog walking, kid supervising, videoing octopus is this...His bike has training wheels.  And he still managed to tip over 3 times.  3 times!  Luckily they weren't big spills so he laughed it off and got back on, but still.