Another weekend gone…
I am constantly amazed at how Eric learns. Usually, he shows me that he learned something when I least expect it. Today, we were outside, and I was working in the driveway. Eric was walking around and playing with the rocks outside the garage. I turned away for a few seconds, and when I looked back he was sitting in his car. Now, we have been trying to show him how to climb in and out of his car since he got it for his birthday. It has been a little awkward and difficult for him, as he kept trying to crawl in head first. Anyway, he has not played with the car for a few weeks, and then all of a sudden, he just climbs right in. No trouble at all. So, for the next hour or so, I continue working in the driveway (checking brakes on one of our cars), and Eric continues to get in and out of his little car over and over again, opening and closing the door as he does. When he gets in, he has the biggest grin on his face as he holds the steering wheel for just a few seconds before climbing out again.
Yesterday, we played in the house most of the day until it was time to go to Debbie’s parents house for my birthday dinner. While we were waiting for everyone else to arrive, Eric and I wandered into the backyard with his ball. Their backyard is up against a city park with several soccer fields, so there is plenty of room to run around. I headed down the slope to the fields, kicking the ball. Eric is hesitant to follow. He keeps looking back at the house and saying “ma ma”. He is at the stage where he does not want to be far from his mommy. He prefers both of us near him all the time. Anyway, he can’t resist the fun of playing ball any more, and he follows me onto the soccer field. When he catches up to me, he runs toward the ball and without slowing he kicks it as hard as he can, saying “kick!”. We have not been teaching him the word “kick”, but I was saying it while I kicked the ball out to the field. He also has never kicked a ball like that before. He usually picks it up to try and throw it. He learns fast! We kicked the ball all over the field and across the next field. Eric got very excited when I would kick it real high and far. He took off running after it, so he could kick it next. He is running very fast lately. I think it might be his new shoes 🙂
Today was the motorcycle race at the speedway. As with any race at the speedway, the Air Force jets fly over our house on their way to the speedway for the opening ceremonies. This time, they flew over 4 times! The first three passes were low and we could see them. The final fly over was above the clouds but much louder. They must have been flying pretty fast. Anyway, after the first fly over, I asked Mommy to bring Eric outside, because I knew they would fly over again. When they did I pointed to the sky and said, “Look Eric. Look at the jets. Cool, huh?” On the final fly over, it was very loud for a long time. When I looked over at Eric, he was watching the sky looking for the planes. We could not see them, but he said, “Cooool!”