The kids and I grabbed some Chick-fil-A for lunch today on the way home from Clara's zoo camp. Lately, the kids meals have had these little cow figurines in them as their toy:
So Clara's sitting in the back seat of the van and says to me, "Mine says, 'Take a V-A-C-A-S-H-U-N from beef'...I don't know what my cow says."
Without skipping a beat and before I could answer, Jonathan did for me, "Moooooo!"
Many of you know bike riding has been a bit of a challenge for Clara. She's had her bike for about 1.5 years and still not proficient with it. Just around the time Chris left in May for deployment, I had her riding the bike fairly well. She still has that handle on the back, for me to help her get started, but once she's going, she's pretty steady, can ride up and down the street and around the cul de sac with no help. She knows how to stop the bike, get off on her own and walk it to a safe place (the grass) when she's done with it, but seems to have stalled there. She's still too timid to attempt those starts on her own, and you're not going to see her doing anything crazy like riding up onto the sidewalk any time soon...I'm even a little skeptical about whether she can handle a left turn, as she always turns to the right in the street.
It's not as if we've had a lot of practice time lately either. With swim lessons, zoo camp, and 105+ degree weather, we've been reluctant to get in that practice time over the last month, so she's perhaps a little more shaky right now than she was a month ago.
Chris asked me a couple nights ago how her bike riding was going and I explained we hadn't been doing much with it lately, but then took the opportunity to let Clara know Daddy was asking about it. To my surprise she willingly got back on her bike, without whining and did really well, for a month of no practice. As you can see, when she's a little unsure, she insists on full pads (helmet, knees, elbows, and gloves). As she gets more comfortable she goes with just the helmet. I don't argue, since I know if she were to ever to take a good spill on her bike with no pads, it would probably take another good year to get her back on the bike! I tried giving her the incentive of a Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus CD she wants...once she can ride her bike 100% on her own (including starts and stops) and I can take off that handle, the CD is hers. I know I'll hate having to listen to it over and over, as I'm not a fan, but Clara responds well to incentive! Today she got a new piece of incentive....
...a biking buddy! That's right, Jonathan took it upon himself to pull out his big boy bike that Santa brought him this year. He rode up and down the street for a good 30-45 minutes this evening, and even whined when I told him he had to get off so we could come in and eat dinner. It's fun to see the difference in personalities again between Clara and Jonathan. Where as Clara's first instinct is to always have assistance first and foremost, every time I saw Jonathan stall, and asked him if he needed help, he said, "No, I can do it." (!!!!!) I'm excited for him, and excited that this has renewed Clara's interest in bike riding.
He rode around proud of himself, chanting the mantra I taught Clara, "1-2-3-4, I'm not scared anymore!"
Clara couldn't wait to get on her bike and ride along with him. It was funny when she'd try to teach him how to do stuff, seeing as how she's still a little shaky herself! -- but that's what big sisters are for!
My Biker Boy!
About a week ago, the kids got a hold of my camera and decided to take some pictures. I deleted most of what they took, but there were a few that were worth keeping:
Clara wanted to get Jonathan to pose, but he just wanted the camera for himself.
When she didn't give him the camera right away, he decided she couldn't take his picture either, so he hid under the blanket with me.
Later, he decided to put his smile on for her
He never sits that well for me to take his pic!
He wanted me to stand up where Clara typically takes my 'belly shots' for me, but all of those pics that he took were just of my foot or the wall/floor. Then he started calling out the superhero poses he usually gives me at the end of those shoots...this is my Spiderman!
Jonathan's 'Blue Dog' posed for him
and so did his 'Brown Dog'...(I know my kids are really original when it comes to naming their furry friends!)
I know this pic may not seem like much to anyone else -- but I happen to love Jonathan's feet. I don't know why, but I have always thought he has the cutest feet I've ever seen...so, of course, I couldn't delete this one, even if it is a little blurry!
When Chris was getting ready to leave for deployment, we debated who would get custody of the new camera. After all, he had bought it for me, but surely he was going to have the opportunity see some much cooler things in ports during his deployment. Not to mention, he had actually done more reading, and experimenting with the camera. I was a little concerned about the safety of the camera if it went with him. He had spent so much on it, and I was sure it would get lost or broken if he took it. Not so much that I lacked faith in Chris, but it's easy to leave things behind in hotel rooms in port, and when you share a room on a ship with other people, it's easy for things to get misplaced or damaged. At the same time, the camera is rather large, so I'm more likely to just take along my little 'point-and-shoot' camera when I already have 2 kids, a purse, and a diaper bag to contend with everywhere I go. In the end, Chris decided if he left the camera home with me, I'd be able to get some use out of it and at a minimum, take some really cool pics of our new addition when he's born in a month. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't relieved by Chris' decision to leave the camera behind, but I hadn't used it until last week for the kids swim lessons. I got some really cool pics of the kids while we were waiting for their lesson to begin.
Work it, Girl!
On this particular day Jonathan was mad at me because I didn't go back in the house to get a book for him to bring along in the van. He'd had it in his hand, ready to walk out the door, but for some reason put it down and left without it. When he got in the van and realized Clara had a book, he decided he wanted his back and wanted me to go get it. I spend far too much time going back in the house to get something the kids left behind, even though they always get a 5 minute warning, to go potty, get on shoes, grab a toy, book, sun glasses...anything. So I took a stand and refused to go back in anymore...this was the result, that pitiful look and a whole bunch of pouting! Might be frustrating to deal with, but makes a cute picture :)
Can you feel the pain?!
Not gonna smile.
Even Clara tried to help cheer him up by picking him some flowers, but as you can see he was not having it. He carried this pout all the way into swim lessons. His teacher even asked why he was so grumpy because he wouldn't sing the 'Batman song' while he was swimming as he apparently would typically. I explained to her that it was 'my fault', but within just a few minutes she had him smiling and splashing - book, forgotten!
