Rocket Man

Photo taken during some intelligence gathering for someone's upcoming birthday. As you can see, Zeke had some of his own ideas as to what he might like. He rode this throughout the store and had to be pulled out of the "space ship" kicking and screaming. Part of his attachment appears to stem from the fun that he has in ride-on's like this now that he can scoot forward in them quickly.



We are in the process of planning for Zeke's birthday. We have made some headway and I have to thank my new friend Maureen sooooo much for her help getting Zeke's gift. Don't tell, but we got him what is sometimes called a balance bike or run bike. It is basically a training bike without pedals, and they are much more common in Europe. The idea is if a child learns balance on this bike, that they can skip training wheels later. I had read about them before, but I really started looking for one once we saw a Sesame Street segment where Grover visits a little girl in the Netherlands and learns about her "loop fiets" or running bike. I posted to a regional board for moms to see if anyone knew where I could find one locally. One mom who responded went to a consignment sale I had posted about earlier and saw exactly the bike model I was looking for (in the preferred color even) and snagged it for us! It is like new and at least $45 cheaper than if I bought it new...which I couldn't do anyway because it is out of stock right now! Yay for the kindness of strangers. I'm still so amazed and appreciative that she did that for us. Sometime I should write a full post about it, but the Internet and the people I have met there have been such a great part of this parenting gig. I don't know how I would do what I do without a couple of forums and websites, eBay and Freecycle. This modern age and all.

We picked out a helmet for Zeke but have already given that to him as he has started some daredevil moves on one of his trikes (from Freecycle!) that merit some head protection. Fortunately that was not needed in the store for the space ship ride.