Tempus Fugit ... and So Does Sam

Somehow, 11 weeks have slipped by since I last posted in I Have a Word for You. Hard to believe. I'm been making mental notes—so many lost mental notes!—of things I want to capture here, but it's been a challenge to keep up with regular life (and the gardens:), so I don't get to the computer for fun stuff much these days. But it's 8:00 a.m. on a Saturday morning, and I figure I can make weekend tea time my blog time and add a story or two a week. Let's see how that goes.

First item of business on the catch up?
The training wheels have come off.

Let this record show that on Saturday, June 20, 2009, following a full spring season of riding his two-wheeler and barely using the raised training wheels, Sam agreed to their removal. Then, with a little seat steadying from Daddy, who ran along behind him (a little choked up, he admits), Sam flew up the street like he was born to ride. He shot a few glances back to check that the extra wheels were actually gone, and I braced for a wipe-out, but he kept it steady. I'd always imagined that teaching Sam to ride a two-wheeler would mean numerous spills and the fighting back of tears as we dressed skinned knees and elbows and reassured him that it was practically a rite of passage to go flying over the handlebars at least once. But he'd trained well and was ready to roll.

This short video captures his first little loop up the street. A couple of neighbours caught the action, too—you can hear Lucas shout out the question "Do you have training wheels?!" to which Sam answers triumphantly, "No training wheels!" as he dismounts (the dismount needs work!).

Tracey and Jacquie and the kids arrived a few minutes later from the airport, so they were in on the street party congratulations, too. Now Sam has learned to walk, run, swim, skate, throw a high block, catch a ball and stop a puck: between now and Driver's Ed, it's all gravy.