Knots of Fun!

Bodie accomplished a big milestone last week - he learned to tie his shoes. He got two pairs of lace-up shoes and I immediately made the rule, "If you can tie them, you can wear them. I do not tie other people's shoes." Amazingly, this was the exact motivation he needed, he wanted to wear those shoes. So he sat down and began to learn. I was prepared for it to take daily practice for about a week. Thirty minutes later, he had it and has been tying them up ever since. Way to go buddy!

The weather from the Antarctic has finally left and we have been outdoors nonstop. In three sunny days we hit five parks and are loving the sunshine. Bodie jumped on his bike and hasn't looked back, except to pick his brother up.Who, also, has decided he should be riding a bike and a scooter. Gates gets his own helmet, drags out an item to ride from the shed and then begins to grunt like a caveman until someone hooks his helmet on and sets him up.


He has no concern that he doesn't know how to pedal yet, he will sit on that tricycle for 20 minutes grunting in hopes that it will move, occasionally getting motion that ends in a wipeout. He definitely has the will to ride a scooter and a bike, which may be all he needs. Skill will come...

Bodie is leading the way in fearless park behavior. He can be found climbing the outside of any park equipment until he reaches the top and some petrified parent anxiously cautions him to come down before he breaks his leg. Gates is learning from the best. I turned my back the other day to get something out of my bag and found Gates on top of this 15 foot play structure with three of the four sides as open drop-offs. Even I was nervous. Then I saw and heard this noise - he climbed up and down probably 15 times, laughing every time.

No doubt with these two little dare devils the emergency room is in our future. At least laughter will have preceded the pain.

It was hero day at preschool on Friday. I gave Bodie a long list of people he could dress as, his dad, Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King, I went on and on. He looked up, so focused on what I was saying then smiled and said, "Or Batman!" And Batman it was. Oh well, I tried. We were also responsible for the special snack that day, so we made a super kid cake.

Lastly, we've been teaching our kids "music appreciation," inspired by my brother, Rick. He decided that each Christmas his kids would receive a classic (Led Zeplin, Aerosmith, Rolling Stones, etc). We're attempting to give this same gift of music to our boys through my love of rap music. You can see, they are definitely taking to it. It's so fun, what's not to love!