Spring?

Dare I say it? Should I release that word into the thought cloud or will the moment I let it escape, will we be plagued with rain, or worse yet, more snow?

I'm going to be brave and say that I think it's spring finally. Most of the snow has melted on it's own, and what hasn't, I attacked the other day with a shovel in a mad woman cabin fevered frenzy - spreading it all over the sidewalk and boulevard in a desperate attempt to get it to melt faster - which it did, so I'm not completely mental.

The boys have been itching to ride bikes since - oh, Christmas, so I finally relented this week. Actually, it was Chris who gave them permission to ride bikes - which meant that he was the one who stayed outside in the 'not quite spring' like temps to watch them.

Yesterday was actually a really nice day - probably the first one warm enough to go without winter coats. We took the boys down to Yorkdale for lunch and to meet some friends in a belated happy birthday get-together. Seems 4 of our good friends have birthdays within a space of about 3 weeks. I left early with the younger two - because it's not really a family restaurant and they have a time limit for good behaviour in restaurants and after 1 hour they turn into demon spawn. We were complimented on their lovely behaviour - just moments before the time limit, so I wanted to beat it out of there before they called Supernanny on us.
Besides, Matthew had a planned playdate with one of his classmates - so we'd taken two vehicles just for this purpose.

Went to our playdate - Joey was an added bonus who was graciously welcomed and the boys played fairly nicely for 2-1/2 hours and I had a nice chat and a bit of a relaxing time with the mum. We had seen each other in the park and dropped the boys off at school and both volunteered on school trips, so I had known her already, but it was nice to just sit down and share a drink and chat for more than 10 minutes and get to know her better. Some people you just 'click' with right away - and she's one of them.
After the playdate we came home, and the boys went bikeriding while Chris watched a movie with his friend who had come over for some "I need to get out of my house" time.
I would check periodically to make sure the big boys were staying within viewing distance. We're trying to extend them a little bit of freedom, while at the same time not letting them go completely unsupervised. it's a balancing act and one that I am still somewhat trepidatious about. The chances that they would actually get kidnapped is very minute - and yet the mere thought of it brings me to some sort of semi-hysteria and I get panicky when I can't see them for more than a minute. I hate the feeling of hovering - and they are good boys who obey the rules I've set forth, so I'm having to swallow a bit of panic and give them an inch of freedom before they choke on a short leash.
Chris went out after his buddy left and Matthew decided he wanted to learn how to ride a bike without training wheels, so off they came, and within a short time, Matthew was peddling with freedom and doing a great job. He still has the little 12" bike so his legs were peddling pretty quickly to keep his balance on that little thing. He is tall for his age (5.5) and is within about 1 inch of Duncan now (who will be 7 in less than 2 weeks!) We had gotten Duncan a new bike last year, so this year is Matthew's turn. We went looking a few days ago - and he found one he liked at Walmart.
Since he has acquired this new skill, I actually went out last night and bought him a new bike. It's 16" and was a little more expensive than the one he had picked out, but it has the kickstand and a front reflector light and a hand brake which should be easier for him to coordinate then peddling backwards. It's a cool bike. He doesn't know about it yet. Chris promised them a bike ride this afternoon, and we're going to surprise him with it - I'll take pictures. Duncan will probably be jealous but that's life.