The red bike

Duncan is in the market for a new bike.
His first bike, was a tricycle that he got as a birthday present from Grandma and Grandpa when he was 2 yrs old. It's a beautiful trike - even has a handle on it (not shown) for mummy to help give a push.



Problem was, he was too small to ride it - even with the seat adjusted to the frontmost position, he couldn't reach the pedals until he was 3-1/2, and then the winter came upon us, and by the time spring rolled around he turned 4 and behold - his legs could reach the pedals easily. He has enjoyed his tricycle immensely this past summer. He's also grown about 4 inches since his birthday, and it is funny to watch his long legs pedal furiously to get his trike moving at warp speed. He believes he is very fast.
He believes that on his tricycle he is faster than the car, and that any day now he's going to just pedal all the way to grandmas - some 35km away.
He now is in the market for a 2 wheeler, with training wheels of course.
He told me that he needs a bike. A red bike with two wheels. Colour changes with his mood, but we've gone through his pink phase and his purple phase and now everything must be red (yes there is a reason we havent' painted his room yet).

As a reward for excellent behaviour this past week, and because I felt like it, I promised him a trip to look at bikes.
After his doctor's appointment, we headed across the street to the mall, where a giant Toys R Us store beckoned us in.
We found the bikes, and Duncan immediately latched on to this one:

He rode it around the store for 15 minutes and was rather distressed when mummy didn't up and buy it for him right away, but I reminded him that today was a looking day, and we were not getting a bike but rather seeing which size to get. Truthfully, I wanted to see if he'd actually ride it, as my main concern was getting him a bike and him deciding that he wouldn't get on it. He is a perfectionist, and if he cannot master something immediately, he refuses to engage in that activity until he can do it perfectly. It took us nearly a month to get him on his tricycle (once he was big enough) and after that we couldn't get him off of it.
Nevertheless, we left the store sans bike - only to see........
SANTA'S CASTLE all set up in the middle of the mall - and better yet, not a single person in line!!

Our previous experience with mall santa's has resulted in an amusing picture of a mild mannered gentle looking Santa with two screaming boys on his lap, tears streaming down their cheeks.

Duncan really likes Santa - from a distance. He likes the idea of Santa, and he sure liked the nozzles that Santa gave him last year (Santa has more to give this year, if we can just remember where mummy hid them....)
He talks about asking Santa for stuff, and then faced with the very real thing before him, he willingly walked down the ramp holding my hand, assuring me that he was going to ask Santa for all kinds of things.
Get to the bottom of the ramp. Kindly gentle Santa with welcoming open arms, and my 4 yr old suddenly develops a case of stranger anxiety.
After much prodding, and mummy staying within 3 ft of him at all times, He was finally coaxed into telling Santa what he wanted - although there was no way he was sitting in that jolly man's lap, he did stand directly in front of him, and almost looked at him. In barely above a whisper he stated "The red bike".



I was proud of him. In years past, he has only ever asked Santa for things like new hose nozzles, or a stop sign or things that are not really traditional "wants". He still wants new nozzles for Christmas. Matthew wants "Lollipops and crackers."
but a bike is a real dream gift!

In other news;

Matthew has learned how to climb up on the kitchen counter - without a chair or anything. Little stinker.
He gets into all sorts of stuff.

It is hard to see, but he found a little music box thing that used to be part of a stuffed toy - It had broken, and I fixed it, but had to open up the toy to get the music box out, so now it's sitting in it's casing. Matthew loves music and just stared at it intently for several minutes. Yes, he's still wearing his halloween costume....


Duncan was putting a puzzle together, and got mad at me for taking his picture. The big grump. Sometimes he's such a poser, but I guess he didn't want anyone to see him with an unfinished puzzle...heaven forbid!


Joey might have said his first word today. He might have said "Yeah". I don't know because it could be a coincidence....everything sounds like yeah! I asked him if he wanted milk, and he said "yeah". He drank the milk.
UPDATE: I just asked Joey if he was ready for bed, and he said "yeah, yeah". I think he's just babbling still.....Oh well.