Happy Tuesday!

A couple of cool things happened today:

1) I couldn't find the boys' lunch bags for them to carry to Bible study today, so instead, I have them carry their backpacks, which they haven't used in MONTHS (because they don't need to carry in anything to church, anymore). As soon as Jones strapped his on to his back - which he insisted on doing for himself, by the way - he said, "Jetpack, activated!" just like Special Agent OSO. I honestly wonder if this child could even HAVE a conversation if it weren't for all of the movie and television lines he's memorized.

2) Freddie has FINALLY - in the last week or two - perfected the fine art of pedaling. Until Jones had such a struggle with it, I had NO idea how tricky it is to work out that coordination, but Freddie's got it (at surprisingly close to the age Jones was when he mastered it), and man, is Mr. Words of Affirmation proud of himself. He'd ride in circles on the driveway, and every time he got to where I was sitting, he'd jump off of his tricycle (which was actually, my sister's first and every Stultz child and Tom Stultz grandchild since) and say something along the lines of, "I pehwooled! I pehwooled ... just like JoJo!"



Not long after that, our babysitter, Haylee, texted to see if we wanted to go walk at the Canton Rec Park. I decided it was the perfect way for Freddie to perfect his new skill, and so off we went. The boys had a great time - and went about a mile and a half! They even got to see the chickens and go to the farmer store.

So yeah.

Life is pretty awesome right about now.

Biker Boys

I had no idea that learning how to pedal was such an ordeal.

It literally took Jones MONTHS to figure it out - maybe this is normal, or maybe it's just indicative of his complete resistance to new experiences (he's getting MUCH better about this), but pedaling did not come easily to him. He mastered it earlier this year on the tricycle we keep at Mom's, but even still, he showed ZERO interest in pedaling the bike we bought him for his third birthday.

Now that he's almost four, I decided it was time for him to get used to it. Since we stored it there, I started making Jones practice on the Radio Flyer every time we'd be at the Pressleys' to ride his tractor. You can imagine, though, how much her preferred John Deere green to Radio Flyer red. He'd do the lap I required, but he didn't do it happily.

I decided to bring the bike home, so he could ride it without the
tractor distraction, and that has been the secret to his success, I think. Now, he asks to ride it all day. He's getting really fast and very steady on it - and, though he's fallen off twice, he's gotten right back on it, which makes me very, very proud of him.

Today, I decided to pull out my bike, so I could ride with the boys. They have LOVED this. Jones has been especially curious about the name "Charity." Initially, he told me HIS bike is named Charity, too, but later in the day, he changed it to James ... because, since it's red, he was pretending it was the red train on Thomas, whose name just happens to be ... you guessed it.

The pedal problem must be pretty universal, because Freddie, for whom many things come more easily than they did for Jones, struggles, too. He's got the motion, but his legs aren't quite long enough to keep up with himself, so he just scoots with his feet ... the exact same way Jones did.

Anyway, the boys and I have been having a ball with our bikes. I can't wait until they're big enough to tackle Cades Cove!