Bigger girl, bigger bike...

Alex got a new bike for Christmas, but the lovely Michigan "spring" we are having has not left a lot of room for riding.  But we finally got out and she is loving her updated ride!

She still has old-school-slam-the-pedal-backward-brakes, but also is starting to practice with the hand brake... though she usually forgets to let go when she wants to start moving again.

She is fast.  Last year we had to institute the "stop at every corner and wait for me to catch up" rule. 

She is very good about this.  But I'm pretty sure I will have to get a bike of my own soon just to keep up...

Alex is on the road again...

Alex enjoyed riding her tricycle last year... in fact so much that she had two of them. When the weather finally broke this spring she rushed to sit on them and begged to go around the block. Upon relenting, we couldn't help but notice that her tiny little knees were quite close to giving her a tiny little black eye every time the pedeals went round. Time for a new bike. A big girl bike!

She was in love from first sight and couldn't wait to go. She is still trying to figure out how the brakes work (when she was going too fast on the tricycle she just bailed out) and has to focus on not watching her feet while she pedals, but overall got the hang of it pretty quick.

And, the bonus is, we get around the block, to the park, or wherever about twice as fast as before.

I second that emotion...

Alex and I were home alone all day Tuesday because she was rockin' a wicked fever. We got bored in the afternoon and started talking about emotions and non-verbal communication. I busted out the camera and just started shouting out emotions, (happy, puzzled, sad, shocked, angry, indifferent). I have no idea which of these pics is which, but I do know it's adorable.

Spring in...

We weren'y sure it was going to happen this year, but the weather finally turned. Check out how good Michele's garden is looking already...

Alex types...

Hey there. I know that I've been missing in action, so I brought on a guest blogger... Alexandra...

alexandra
wesley
michele

There. The first words Alex has ever typed for publication. All on her own. I'll try to follow her example more often.

Alex can "read"...

Alexandra is a creature of habit. Well, maybe a creature of repetition. When she decides that she likes something, she likes it and likes it and likes it until it's worn. She wants to hear the same song over and over in the car for weeks. She wants the same snack for days on end. She wants to read the same book every night for a month. It's always endearing and often enraging.

Maybe it's just comforting to do the same thing, but I don't think that's it. I think she is really trying to figure things out. Trying to slurp up every drop of what that thing is. Every word to a song. Every color of a shirt. Every nuance of a game.

Yesterday she sat on the top of the sofa and started "reading" her current obsession... "Big Bird Brings Spring to Sesame Street". It's an old, tattered book and she loves it. Over and over she loves it. And then a few minutes in to the "reading" Michele and I realized that she wasn't summarizing. She was, for the most part, reciting the words on each page. Here is a demonstration:



There's more from the same reading on YouTube if you must have more.

She is amazing to me. Even the "er, um" when Big Bird is stumbling over a decision. She has memorized it to a large degree. And then, when bedtime came and she could pick one book for Mama to read her...

Take a hike...

Today was so nice that we decided to go for a nature walk...
Before we even got on the trail, Michele and Alex saw a snake bathing in the sun...
Alex was a little miffed that she couldn't ride in the backpack anymore...
But this is the year she will start to hike on her own. We did a short half mile, and she really enjoyed looking at the trees and birds...

A great walk, and a great start to spring!