Quest for the Holy.....Helmet.

What's your favourite colour?
Duncan's used to be pink. I was fine with that. I know lots of 4 yr old boys who love the colour pink. There's nothing intrinsically feminine about the colour, except that it has become the standard to dress little girls in - which really is a shame, because Duncan looks fabulous in pink.
If there wasn't so much of a stigma attached to a boy wearing a "girl" colour, I'd probably buy him a lot more pink. As it is, he likes his pink sippy cup, and his pink bag, and pink straws, and pink toys. He wants his room painted pink - which is a stretch, since it happens to be a colour that I absolutely abhor. I own nothing pink. Pink looks awful on me. Duncan however is blond and blue eyed and fair complected - Pink brings out the best in him.

So it was no surprise to me, when we were in the market for a new helmet for him, that he would tell me he wanted a "Pink one". Truly, I didn't have a problem with this - he may get teased once he starts school, but he won't be wearing a helmet to school (unless the dress code has radically changed). We've been putting off the helmet buying for as long as possible, since our kids aren't bike riders,but now that we've got the bicycle trailer - The boys REALLY need to have helmets. We have one for the baby, but I've been letting the boys ride in the trailer without headgear, as we took the paths to the park .I know, bad mom - I have a hard time justifying the real need for protective headgear when I'm on a park path going all of 5km/hr, and they are basically riding in an encased stroller that can't tip over - still, a law is a law, and best that they get used to the idea of a helmet now, before they start riding two-wheelers on the road.

Now I am cheap by nature, and the thought of shelling out 40$ for one helmet just bugs me to the core - especially when we need to buy 2. I've seen them as low as 25$ at Canadian Tire, but still hate spending 50 bucks on helmets when they don't even own bikes yet. I know if they ever were in a position where the helmet saved their precious noggins from being squashed into the pavement, I wouldn't hesitate to shell out for the very best - but for NOW - I'm cheap, and I'll admit it. I became the helmet hunter in the last few weeks - comparing prices, styles, designs - keeping my eyes peeled for the perfect pink helmet to suit my particularly picky son.

So picky is Duncan when it comes to what he will wear - He's been sporting the same Red Dash T-shirt for 5 days in a row now - even wearing it under his jammies - I'm having a dicken's of a time getting him to part with it, so i can wash it - and Matthew has taken his cues from his big brother - also wearing HIS grey Dash shirt until it's so stained I can barely make out the original colour.
Jammies are another sticking point. When Duncan was 2 his Aunt (my sister) who lives in the US bought a pair of jammies for both boys - they were blue with yellow stars on the feet.
They soon became the gold standard by which all jammies were measured against.
No matter how many new jammies they got - they always had to have the ones with Stars on the feet. The following year, as Duncan's toes were quickly poking out of the feet of his pyjamas he still refused to wear any others. That year he got 9 pairs of jammies, and he refused to wear any of them because they didn't have stars. My mom being a fantastic sewer (that's one who is able to sew, not a stinky toilet drain), she went out to Fabricland and bought 10 star appliques to sew on to the feet of all his new jammies(Matthew's too). At last, the other jammies became 'wearable' because they had stars on the feet, but the originals got worn the most - Even long after Duncan outgrew them, he could be seen to be stuffing himself into these jammies, the feet long worn out, and the precious stars hanging like threads around his knees, as he had grown so much.

Out of the blue last week, Duncan informed me that his favourite colour was no longer pink - It was purple. Purple was the new pink, and everything purple was good and wonderful and terrific. "I LOVE purple " he told me. I was surprised since pink had been his mainstay for 4 years, and now all of a sudden pledging allegiance to purple seemed so different - I didn't think it would last - but it did. Every day he would remind me that his favourite colour was purple.

All this to tell you that I found the perfect Helmet! I saw it while shopping for a b-day present for a friend of mine - I wasn't even looking for a helmet - isn't that always the way - you find the best stuff when you aren't looking for it. Anyway, there it stood before me - in a box with a transparent window to show the helmet inside. And it was on sale. Just $12.93.
So far the price was perfect.
Best of all, Duncan picked it up and shouted "Oh, a purple helmet, I like this"
SCORE 2.
AND - It had Yellow stars on it!!
I could not have custom ordered it any better.
It was being marketed with aBonus purple watch and a Bonus purple radio.
I looked around to make sure I wasn't on Candid Camera, and then quickly piled 2 into my cart!

Matthew in an attempt to be difficult decided he wanted the blue one with polar bears instead, but when he wasn't looking I switched it back out for the Holy Grail of helmets - Good ol' purple with yellow stars.

When we got home of course, I brought them inside and Matthew immediately wanted "his" purple helmet. He grabbed one out of the bag, and they argued over it for a few seconds before I pulled out the other one.
Both of them happy at last - Content to sport their new purple helmets inside the house.
After adjusting the straps I took them to the park . I had converted the bike trailer into a stroller and walked up with them. Duncan still wore his purple helmet. He looks cool.
I have to admit - He looks great in purple too.

Today he told me his favourite colour was yellow.