8/30/09 Bike rotation

I went for a swim this morning, and returned to quite the charming scene: all three kids with their bike helmets on, riding around, and Dad doing varied bike maintenance. It's been the plan for a while that Gabriel should get the 18" bike Dave salvaged, Julian would get Gabriel's 16" bike, and Katrina would get one of the two 12" bikes we have, with training wheels. Part of that plan was implemented today.

Katrina "helped" Dave during this operation, by spinning the pedal of one upside-down bike.


She looked on during an adjustment of training wheels, after throwing a major fit about their presence at all.


And then she was willing to get on it! She half-pedaled, half-pushed it around. It's pretty tall for her. She doesn't mind the hand-me-down bike -- the T-shirt and Crocs are also hand-me downs. (For the record, I set out a darling white fitted T-shirt for her this morning, but she's getting increasingly opinionated about her clothes. Good thing I don't care that much: she went out later in pink flowered shorts with red-and-blue striped socks.)


Note the other wheeled vehicle in the background -- that's Gabriel playing on Katrina's tricycle. Now, really.


Gabriel's 18" bike is ready! Dave ended up replacing the handlebars with lower ones after I took this picture, and took the boys to the BMX park later in the afternoon. Julian was still on his yellow 12" bike, which is looking downright silly on him now.


Rats, I didn't get a picture of all three on cycles together, it was pretty cute.

Katrina has always liked bicycles, and she's pretty happy about this one. I sure wish it hadn't turned into a massive tantrum later when I wouldn't let her ride in the driveway, because I needed to work in the kitchen and couldn't keep an eye on her. I swept the backyard walkways for her, but, not good enough.

She didn't take a nap today and spent the better part of the afternoon wearing me down and testing my patience with one picky fit after another, punctuated by several long full-on top-of-the-lungs screeching tantrums. By 4:30 I was counting the minutes until her bedtime.

I took her to Jo-Ann Fabrics to buy some black felt, to black out her windows. Starting this week, I'm full-time Mom on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and it will be a very unpleasant experience if every afternoon goes the way today's did. A room with minimal light is my first defense against a nap-less toddler. A full-time job is my second.

8/30/09