Raking, It's Good for What Ails You

You know, I really do enjoy raking....as long as the space is not the size of Grandma Debbie's yard. ;) I just finished raking our front yard and I am sufficiently tired. Matt did part yesterday, I did part earlier today and then had a nap. Just finished up. My arms and hands hurt, but it's the good kind of hurt. It's the get-your-heart-pumping-I'm-using-muscles-I-never-knew-I-had-burn. Raking is great in that there is immediate gratification. You have a messy yard and as you rake it up it looks better and better. Oh, and if you're wondering, the high temp today was 44F. But it felt more like the high 40s. And yes, we should have done this in the fall, but that didn't happen then. That was when Matt was recuperating from working crazy hours and everyone was sick. Our grass is looking a little ill at the moment, but it will perk up when it warms up again. We have bare spots, but thankfully St. Augustine grass has runners and will eventually fill in those spots. Might take a couple of years. That's ok. I'm not worried about it. Hope the neighbors aren't bothered by our poor grass! ;)

Another Milestone

It's amazing to watch your kids grow up. They come into this world completely helpless and dependent upon you. Then they start to notice the world around them, learn to roll, crawl, walk, and talk. You start out as the one and only in their little world. Then they learn to play with others and soon have best buddies other than you. It is a beautiful and amazing thing. 

We have now crossed another milestone with Ethan. He has just learned how to ride a bike! He is mobile! I am so proud of him and so excited for him. It is fun to watch him grow as a little boy. I love to see him learn new things. He was so excited about his new bike! But still nervous and a bit hesitant to ride it on his own. He is so much like me in his approach to new things. It cracks me up....only because he is just like me. I think to others it is probably really annoying and frustrating! ha ha ha! Drives his father nuts! Basically the mindset to new things, to change in general, is this....you have very low expectations and therefore can't be disappointed if it doesn't work out. You still have hope that it will work out, but you can't show that on the outside. So, I come across as really pessimistic. :) Great, I know. But hey, it works for me! Ok, honestly, I know it's not a great approach and I still struggle internally with it. And so I try to be patient with Ethan when he expresses those types of approaches. But what it is, is just the initial fear of the unknown and once I get a bit of confidence I am usually all for it. 

This was Ethan's approach to riding a bike. Ethan and Emma and I went out front and I held onto the back of Ethan's bike for I don't know how long, running back and forth in front of the house until I was sweaty and out of breath, while Ethan built his confidence. He was riding the bike on his own after about the second trip. My role after that was to just lightly hold onto the back of his bike until he felt good. :) Then I had to take a break. In the house we went for pretzels and pop. Anna woke up from her nap and I took care of her. Then out we went again. I told Ethan that I couldn't run the whole way with him anymore since I had to take care of Anna. Not really true, but it was a good reason for me to back off and challenge him mentally a bit. So, we then went from me holding the seat the entire time to me just holding it a few feet and letting him go. Ethan only rode by himself a few feet. We did this for awhile and also started working on getting him to start off by himself. So, he really made great strides! After dinner we went back outside in the dark to show off to his daddy. While we were out there Ethan learned how to start off all by himself! But he was funny in that while I was holding onto the back of his seat he told me all his frustrations about the bike, why he didn't like it, why it was hard, etc. And of course now that he can ride it by himself it is the coolest thing in the world. :)

So, now he's mobile. Wow. My baby boy.