Careful What You Wish For

Those are Lesley Ash's. We now have a set just like that at home - they look even more bizarre on a 2 year old.

Yesterday, as you will recall I was carefree and cavalier regarding just how bumped and bruised my little boys should get. In fact, I think I uttered something very close to "If our boys reach 18 and have never had a trip to A&E, I'll be extremely disappointed because they won't have had a proper childhood" to my better half. If you've not worked it out already, this came back to bite me on the arse today.

BB landed face first today after the most spectacular fall from a toddlers ride on toy (thankfully not his new bike, as I can't afford another divorce!) He managed to give himself quite a nasty gash on his top lip, and managed to bleed over several people. Note to self: don't wear nice new tee shirt to mother and toddlers in the misguided hope of new yummy mummies coming along! It required a trip to the hospital, where my brave little soldier let the nurse cut of the remaining flaps of skin from inside his top lip. I swear I could sense his mother drilling the "I told you so" through the back of my thick skull.

To make matters worse, later this afternoon he has fallen down some stairs, fallen out of the (stationary) car and tripped on some gravel. I'm awaiting a call from social services any minute.

It's Just a Period We're Going Through?

Being a child of the 80's, I was never one for protective helmets when riding your push bike. It was all rather gay to be honest. I recall, not too long ago mocking a good friend of mine for using one on his morning cycle along the beach front. But of course, as a product of the 80's I was able to ride my bike on the road, use hand signals and even venture out of my mother's direct line of sight for an afternoon and yet I never did die on my bike.

That said, I'm always prepared to live and learn. I later graduated onto proper bikes with engines. Rather unfortunately, I had an accident which resulted in a cyclist (who needless to say wasn't wearing a helmet either) suffering serious head injuries. Aside from being in the wrong place at the wrong time, the poor bugger didn't do much wrong. Lesson learned on my part.

Alas, since then I have worn head gear. As a responsible parent, I also insist the kids wear them too. But today MPLST took it too far. She was talking about elbow pads, knee pads and gloves for BB. Jesus Christ woman, he's going to ride a bike on the road, not down Ben Nevis. It's a push bike for heavens sake. I swear I wouldn't have been surprised if she'd found a use for a bloody fanny pad as well!

Proper boys should have bumps, grazes, bruises and the odd gash otherwise they are not being proper boys. Headgear is reasonable. Even gloves (all bikers know that the first thing that gets damaged when you far off is your mitts). But full body armour is taking it too far.

A Game of Two Halves

It's SS's birthday today. Yet another one that has slipped by where I have not managed to talk to her - never mind see her. I could go on and on, but what's the point?

On the other hand, we made BB as happy as can be today by caving in an buying him his well earned bike. I can only imagine that tomorrow will bring an even higher level of elation as I built it after he went to bed tonight. Come to think of it, I'm sure some shrink somewhere might read a lot in to me buying on of my lads a nice gift on my daughters birthday. Hey ho.

I Want to Ride My Bicycle

Firstly, I shall apologise for sounding like one of those "my son is better than yours" dads. I really really can't stand people bragging about what their kids achievements and expecting everyone else to follow suit. Only last week, some mum was telling me that I should get our youngest on the potty because her boy is using it at 13 months. Well, whoop-dee-fucking-doo and good for you misses, but no thanks.

It's not going to stop me this time though. Today, 2 months short of his 3rd birthday, BB rode his bike (well, actually his sisters) without any stabilisers. You might remember the post I wrote about the Likeabike (there's still a link), well it's turned out to be a great buy. Boyo has sussed balance and, with the exception of trying bikes in shops, has never used stabilisers at all.

Poor bugger is determined to get a bike of his own, and so is busy proving "I am good at it Daddy!" His feat was made even more impressive as the conjunctivitis has returned, and he could hardly see where was was going.

Having taught two kids who did it different ways, I can only urge everyone to bin the stabilisers. You can buy similar bikes cheaper than those on the link. All I know is BB did in 20 mins today what it took me 3/4 1 hour sessions with his almost 5 year old sister to achieve.

Here's another top tip. It might seem obvious. Don't try running alongside your child on a bike the same day you get back from a music festival. It's seriously tiring!