Lessons from the Rail Trail

Here's Dillon in her new bike trailer! I've been wanting to go riding for a while since I hadn't since before she was born. I finally decided between a bike seat and a bike trailer. We found one on sale, so off on a bike ride we went! We have a Rail Trail entrance about a mile from our house. It's the perfect place to ride because it's pretty level and there are no motorized vehicles on it- in the summer anyway. There are snowmobiles on it in the winter, not that we'd be able to ride a bike then, anyway. She happily put on her helmet and crawled right in. I put snacks, a blanket (in was only upper 50's when we headed out), and a doll. She was happy as a clam. We rode for about a half and hour, then took a break so she could get out and walk around, then spent another 1/2 hour just playing along the trail.

So, here are some of the lessons learned from our excursion on the rail trail-

The bike throws dirt back into the trailer, though there wasn't any on her face, so it seems to be manageable.

A blanket is a necessity when the temp is below about 70.

A river that goes under a bridge is not 2 different rivers, it's only one.

God threw the rocks in the river.

Some plants have stickers on them.

Those stickers are different than the paper kind, of which there are several on the bike trailer.

It's fun to spin the bike tire when the bike is laying on the ground (no kickstand on my bike).

When you run a stick along the spokes of a spinning bike wheel, it makes music. This will entertain Dillon for about 10 minutes straight.

The woods are not a bathroom, but it's OK to pee in them.

According to Dillon, there are such things as "momma long legs," the female version of "daddy long legs."

All told, though, it was a great success & I think we both look forward to going again. Hopefully Dave will be able to join us at some point.

The endless questions

I think that somewhere I was prepared for the "why" stage of toddlerhood. I wasn't prepared for the questions to be fully articulated though. After expressing the desire for a temporary off switch for the constant stream of questions, Dave very gently and kindly reminded me the other day that we really do want her to ask questions. He's right- we do. I still wish there was a temporary off switch.

Here's a sampling of some recent conversations:
This morning in the car:
D: Is that a fence? W:Yes
D: Are fences dangerous? W: No
D: Are fences dangerous? W: no
D: Are you sure? W: Yes
D: Is that a fence right there? W: yes
D: Are fences dangerous? W: Nope, they still aren't dangerous
D: Are you sure? W: Yes, baby, I'm sure

Last Saturday after I fell backwards over the fan-
D: Momma are you OK? W: nodding yes
D: Momma are you OK? W: still nodding yes
D: Momma did you hurt yourself? W: still nodding yes
D: Did you hurt your knee: W: No, I hurt the back of my leg
D: Did you hurt the back of your knee W: No the back of my leg
D: Did you hurt the back of your knee a little bit? W: No, baby, the back of my leg
D: I wanna see you hurt the back of your leg. W: It's one of those hurts that you can't see
D: Did you hurt the back of your leg? W: Yes
D: Did you break the fan? W: Yes- it looks like one of the feet fell off
D: Is it broken? W: Well, let me see if I can fix it.
D: Did you break it? W: I don't know yet
D: Momma, did you fall on the fan and break it? W: It looks that way
D: Did you fix the fan, momma? W: I'm trying to
D: Maybe Daddy can fix it. W: I think I can do it
D: Momma, did you hurt the back of your knee? W: no, baby the back of my leg

Thursday, in the car trying to find a place to park to go to the farmer's market. I didn't asnwer a good number of these questions since I was trying to concentrate on driving!
W: Oh, looks like we'll have to look around for a place to park
D: Are we trying to find a place to park? Are we going to the farmer's market? Is there a place to park over there? Are we going to turn here? Are we going to swing? Is this the farmer's market? Are we turning to find a place to park? Are we going to park here? Are you turning the car momma? Momma! Are we looking for a place to park? Is this the farmer's market?

Then there are those questions that I have no idea how to answer-

What happens when Dillon's a big girl?
What happens when Dillon's a little tiny baby?
What happens when Daddy's a little tiny baby?


There are also the ones that are kind of fun because you get to see how she remembers things and puts them together-
Is Mimi daddy's mom?
Is Nana your mom?

And the sweet ones-
Momma are you still sad that Satchmo's not here anymore?
Can I have a hug?
Can I go see daddy's working downstairs?

See, here, I'm worn out just thinking about all those questions!

Big girl

The cute hair lasted for approximately 2 minutes after this picture was taken. She inherited my super-fine hair, so nothing will stay in it for very long. It was really cute while it lasted, though!

We're slowly adjusting to life without Satchmo. We all miss him a great deal. Dillon asked me out of the blue yesterday morning if I was still sad. I've learned to clarify what information she is looking for before answering that question because she may well be thinking about me bumping my knee a month ago. When I asked her what would I be sad about, she said "Cause Satchmo's not here anymore." I told her I was and asked her if she missed him and she said "Yeah." It's interesting how she processes his death. She still talks about him, but is making fewer comments about how she wants to give him a bite of food or wants to pet him. She will, out of nowhere, tell us that Satchmo died. As we have all along, we talk about it for as long as she wants, then move on.

Two weeks ago, I took her to the circus. It was a saturday & Dave was on call, so she & I went to breakfast and went to a small traveling circus that was in town. It was a one-ring circus and the show lasted a little over 2 hours. The animals were all the more domestic variety- birds, cats, dogs and horses. Dillon loved the dog tricks the best. Most of the rest of it kept her attnetion for the most part, though a few things were lost of her. Honestly, a few things were lost of me, like the guy that spun a large ceramic flower pot on his head. All I could do was wondering about the moment that he thought "Hey, why I don't I try spinning that 50 pound flower pot on my head?!" All in all, though, she seemed to like it and we'll probably do it again next year. There's another one coming to town next month, but I think we'll pass on it. I can't say that she liked it enough to do it again just yet. Several times since then she's commented that "Sometimes circuses are loud." Yep, sometimes they are.

Yesterday morning, my friend Juliana kept Dillon while I worked half a day. She took them (Dillon and Emma, her daughter) to a little children's theatre performance- a little 3o minute play. When I came to pick Dillon up, Juliana said they had a interesting conversation in the car.
Dillon told Emma, who is 5 months younger, that she (Dillon) was a girl and that she had girl parts. That's what made her a girl. And big girls pee on the potty and girls sit down when they pee. I asked if there was any discussion about what boys do and she said that the conversation pretty much just stuck to what girls do. We both found it pretty funny.

We're going to play with a new friend this afternoon, Lydia. She just moved into town and this will be the second time we've gotten together. Actually we saw her for a little while this morning, too, so this is a very exciting day for both of them.