Our Specialized Hotwalk Balance Bike

The wee man's Italian nonno has a love of cycling and it is something that he had always wanted to share with his grandson. Needless to say we were all really pleased that he enjoyed when his Nonno took him out for bicycle rides when we were last in Italy. It was not long then before the question was when can he get his own bike! Hubby had read up on balance bikes and we had seen them about and it sounded like a great way to start.

It is the best birthday gift we have given our wee man ever! He has taken to it so quickly. Each day he is on it he picks up a little bit more speed. It sometimes looks like hard work to me but apparently it is fun! He will certainly be getting lots of exercise as he uses it! (Note: It should come with a bit of health and safety advice in that it can be a bit back breaking when you help to push him about and there will be some point where you end up carrying it!) He calls it his "Vroom vroom". Whenever we are heading out the house he asks "Vroom?" It is obviously a great tool for getting him out of the house but thankfully that has never been a problem anyway. There is also no place that a balance bike cannot go according to my wee man as we have done some serious off roading. Considering all we have been doing these days has been going out and about on our bike I'm not sure I will be able to take a picture of my wee man again not on his balance bike!

WEEEE

READY

OFF ROADING

WHAT DO YOU THINK DADDY?

YEAH, LET'S GO FOR IT

I GOT THIS

PUSH!

LET'S GO!

 

Trying to keep the peace

It's hard sometimes being mum. My life at the moment seems to be worrying everyday about whether I am doing it right or not.  Sometimes when my wee man gets it wrong I can't help but looking about to see who is looking, trying to imagine what they are thinking, what they want to say. Sometimes it is really hard to brush it away and just concentrate on being mummy. Everyone has their own opinion on how to be a parent. Navigating the politics of parenting can be like working your way through quick sand. Some views are stronger than others and some can't help but to push them onto you and suck you down. In the beginning it was hard to ignore but I'm getting a bit better at it now. There are so many issues to contend with but at the minute there is one which outweighs them all. 

With my wee man really getting good at "pushing" boundaries and throwing tantrums a whole new light has been thrown on motherhood. Most times I don't really have the answers and most times I am just desperately trying not to get frustrated. My only rule really through it all is to stay calm. If he is miserable and then I get miserable it just means we are both miserable and nothing is solved. Yet there are those times when my voice gets louder, I lose that patience and I get so frustrated I just want to pull my hair out. It's those times when the tantrum just happens with no solution in sight because how the hell did we get to this point in the first place. 

The popular vote tells me its the "terrible twos". It certainly is terribly tiring, terribly trying and terribly emotional. 

Silent Sunday

A birthday surprise

So if you have not heard my wee man turned 2! We pooled together with the grands to buy the wee man a balance bike. I never knew there was so much choice out there and as usual we spent a lot of time trying to decide. So much so that we did not get the bike itself pretty much until the last minute. We decided then to pick up the wee man a little early from nursery and present him with his big birthday surprise...a nice new shiny red balance bike or as it has been christened "Vroom vroom". We headed straight to the park to try it out and while not "vrooming" away he certainly enjoyed it!

It was immediately christened with mud!

Before we took it for a proper adventure. 

A new way to enjoy being out and about and we LOVE it!

 

Photo of the Week

A special moment on a special day. This is my photo of the week!

The Friday Song Choice

Boys

My heart has been taken by two special boys. You can look...but don't touch! They are mine. Yes ALL MINE!

Now go on leave my boys alone and go and check out some more boys by clicking the button below!

Happy Birthday

To my wee man on his special day!

  

Your Second Year

This week we are preparing for a special day for my wee man. I'm trying not to get too emotional but boy is it hard! It's hard because he has grown and changed so much! Go on...see for yourselves...

You hear it over and over again and I will say it too...treasure every moment as they grow too fast!

Silent Sunday

A good idea

As the week has come to a close it has become a bit obvious that the wee man is not feeling a 100% himself.  As I went to bed Thursday night I said to hubby that tomorrow would probably be a quiet day resting. One thing my toddler does not know to do well though is rest! Our usual Friday morning swim was definitely off the agenda but with the sun shining rather brightly outside I decided I may as well wrap him up extra warm and head to our local park. Getting him out of the door was a bit of a "hands on" experience as he literally flung himself to the floor refusing to move without his dummy. I kept wondering why I was bothering! This is for him! For him to enjoy not necessarily to torture him. Thankfully once out of the door and in the buggy he appeared to calm so I thought well at least we would get some fresh air! To our surprise it was not just sunny but warm. The wee man must of felt the warmth as well because once at the park he cheered right up and was asking to walk. 

We quickly found our favourite puddle!

Then we found sticks to throw into the fountain. Empty at this point in time it still has enough rain water in it to amuse my wee man.

It also seemed to be a morning for marching and singing. Here is our version of the Grand Ole' Duke of York!

The sun and warmth seems to have brought out all the animals as well. We fed the ducks, were chased by squirrels, got friendly with the pigeons and saw some pretty birds.

We found the energy to go "wee" up and down the "hill" and then found some big sticks to amuse ourselves!

Isn't it nice when an idea actually turns out to have been a good one!