This is the 2nd blog entry today.
What a fun weekend so far!
Yesterday, Eric rode his new bike. I picked it up at a second hand shop for children’s stuff. It has a spider-man theme and training wheels. Eric outgrew the bike that I bought for him last summer at the Goodwill store. He did not get to ride it much last year. He had not figured out the pedalling part yet. He was certainly ready this year! I aired up the tires and adjusted the seat and handle bars to fit him. He was very patient and tolerant of this delay, although he was defintely anxious to ride his new bike! I helped him get comfortable with the bike and reassured him that the training wheels would keep him from falling over. I gave him some gentle pushes to get him moving. Soon he was pedalling! I had to keep reminding him to pedal in order to keep moving and reminded him to steer when he was heading for the grass, a bush, our camper, etc. Mommy came outside to see him on his bike and immediately ran back into the house to get our camera. Eric rode up and down our sidewalk and around the driveway a few times. Mommy had by now gone back into the house. I decided that he needed more room to ride and get used to pedalling and steering, so we went out into the street. I reminded Eric that he was only allowed to go in the street with Mommy or Daddy. He agreed. Earlier in the driveway he stopped and said, “I can’t go in the street!” He was reminding me, since I was encouraging him to keep pedalling. Of course he was not yet even close to the street, but he felt the need to set me straight. Anyway, out in the street I continusously kept watch for cars and let Eric know that I was doing so. He expressed his concern that cars would be coming. I reassured him, and he started pedalling toward the corner. It is a very slight downhill to the corner, so it was easy for him to gain momentum. He pedalled enthusiastically all the way to the stop sign. We turned around and pedalled back. The slight uphill was a challenge, but I helped him a little, and he made it all the way home. I was so proud! My little boy is growing up so fast. It seems like just last week that he was learning to walk, now he is riding a bike! We heard some thunder in the distance, so we put away the bike and all of the toys in the garage. When we got inside, Eric excitedly told Mommy, “I rode my bike to the stop sign and back!” Mommy looked at me, and I confirmed that he did indeed ride all the way to the corner and back. Mommy was thrilled! She picked him up and gave him a great big hug and kiss. We both praised him generously for this accomplishment! Mommy and I are so proud of our son!
Today is the Indianapolis 500 race. This is one of a few days during the year when we get some free entertainment over our house. This year, the fly over was a stealth bomber! Very cool looking jet! Eric and I enjoyed the show last year with the more typical F-16 or F-18 or whatever fighter jets. This year was a special treat. The stealth bomber is quite an exotic looking aircraft. We were in the house and getting ready to start our day. We had just put on Eric’s shoes when we heard the roar of a low flying jet over the house. Eric and I immediately ran outside to see what it was. We got out just in time to see the bomber flying over our front yard, very low. It was headed for the speedway, which meant the race would begin very soon. Knowing that the jets usually fly over the speedway 2 or 3 times, we ran back inside, I put on my shoes, grabbed the camera, and went back outside. Mommy was ready and waiting for us to go, but she patiently waited for us, as we waited for the next pass. We could still hear the rumbling off in the distance. We waited for a few minutes, although it seemed much longer. Eric and I kept scanning the skies for the jet to appear. Finally, the rumbling grew louder, and our anticipation grew with it. As the roar of the jet approached, suddenly the jet appeared over the tree tops. Wow! Eric was excited, but maybe not as excited as me 🙂 I got quite a few good pictures and some video as the jet passed over and made another 2 passes during the next 20 minutes or so. We were finally convinced that there would be no more fly-overs, so we loaded up the car and headed for our next adventure.
Next stop…Menard’s! This is one of Eric’s favorite places. Just ask him! “Save big money at Menard’s!” he frequently sings. He repeated this chorus over and over today in the car and at the store. I returned some unneeded hardware and picked up a few more items for the house. We spent more time than necessary of course.
We left Menard’s and headed for the parking lot in front of Kohl’s. Mommy had spotted a carnival that was setting up before the weekend had started. We thought Eric would enjoy it, so we planned to spend the afternoon there. It was not very big. It was set up in a parking lot after all. Eric right away spotted the flying rockets, but he called them airplanes. He wanted to ride! I inquired about minimum height…36″…perfect, Eric is over 39″ tall! We headed for the ticket booth to buy some tickets. On the way, we spotted a few other rides that looked exciting, so we bought enough tickets for several rides. We returned to the rockets, handed over our tickets, and Eric was through the gate. Now, with the perfect timing that only a 3-year-old could manage, Eric announced that he needed to pee! Fortunately, he was not sitting in the ride yet, so I mentioned to the operator that he needed to pee first; could we come back? The operator returned our tickets, and we went in search of the portable toilets. That was an experience that I will not describe here. You can use your imagination, though Eric did very well considering the circumstances.
On the way back from the toilet, we passed a small roller coaster, and Eric wanted to ride. He was tall enough, so 3 tickets later he was seated in the belly of a long dragon! He was full of anticipation! When Eric and the other kids were strapped securely in, all of the parents cleared out to behind the fence. The dragon took off and circled the tracks, banking to the side around the curve, up and down, and around again to the front. Eric was having fun, although he looked just a little nervous. As the dragon rounded the front about the 3rd time around, Mommy heard him saying, “I’m done!” When the ride finally ended, I asked him if it was fun. “Yes!”, he replied.
Next, Eric saw the trucks, and he wanted to ride. This was just a train of semi-trucks connected together on a flat oval track. Again, we remitted our tickets, and soon Eric was seated in the cab of a cool truck! The ride was uneventful, and Eric was smiling the whole time. It is amazing that what looks mundane or boring to us can be so exciting for a child. These experiences are all brand new to him, and he soaks them up eagerly.
So, we still haven’t made it back to the “airplanes” yet. But now Eric sees the cars! Another simple ride that resembles a merry-go-round, but instead of leaping horses and a grand canopy, this ride has several miniature cars that roll around in a circle. Eric chose a yellow hot rod with flames on the side. His Uncle Mike would have approved! We soon discovered that the horn buttons in his car did not work. Eric did not seem too concerned. He was on this ride for the ride, not the sound effects. The ride lurched to a start and off he went. The cars circled for a few minutes until the operator stopped the ride. Eric was smiling the entire time!
Okay, so now Mommy is getting hungry, and it is getting late for lunch. We decided to go to “Five Guys Burgers and Fries” just across the parking lot, but on the way we came across a giant slide! Eric loves slides! Mommy and I agreed to one more ride before lunch. Eric and I climbed a seemingly endless flight of stairs to get to the top. Up, up, and up. At the top, I positioned our burlap sack and sat down. The attendant at the top lifted Eric into my lap. Another boy was getting seated in the far lane, so we waited to go at the same time. The slide was high and fast! We were completely airborn by the time we reached the final hump in the slide near the bottom. We were literally flying down the slide! We were going so fast that we skidded beyond the stopping pad but safely stopped just before reaching the fence. So much fun!
We headed over to the restaurant to get lunch. Of course we planned to return for the “airplane” ride. Finally, we gave our last tickets to the air traffice controller, and Eric boarded his rocket ship. This ride went around in a circle and raised up and down slowly. Eric enjoyed the ride, although he seemed to spend the better part of it studying the center part that attached all of the rocket ships…no doubt trying to figure out how it worked.
It was getting hot, and it had been a long afternoon, so we headed home to try a nap. Eric has not been napping much lately…no luck today either. He did get some quiet time in bed. Mommy and I each grabbed a few winks of shut eye for ourselves.
After naps (most of us anyway), we went out for dinner. We went to a local family restaurant that was highly recommended by a friend of Mommy. We enjoyed some good food and hanging out. Eric was allowed to draw right on the table with crayons, as it was covered in paper. This was a novel idea for Eric, and he liked it!