Something BIG happened last week.
It took everyone in our family to pull it off.
Plus FOUR stops at the store.
I'm not sure what possessed Erik to take the boys to the toy store after going to the movies, but Scotty met...and fell in love with...this red bike. They came home empty-handed because the bike AND all three of them would not fit in Erik's car.
Which prompted my mom and I to force my dad to stop at a Toys R Us 80 miles from our house, in hopes of finding a version that could be purchased right now. No such luck. Better for all, though, in the long run. The kid is a little runt, and getting everything he wants, when he wants it, would only increase his personality problems. I promise.
But let's just get real for a second here. What wouldn't we do to see that smile? He dreamed about the bike (talked in his sleep about it!) and I found him one morning, glum as hell, and I asked him what was up? "Just thinking about that special red bike," he sighed.
Erik offered to find him an even better blue or yellow bike. Oh. Oh, silly, silly, Erik! Erik stopped and got the Awesome and Special Red Bike (the official name) on the way home from work. And it was....awesome and special, indeed.
Shortly after this picture was taken, we decided that the "trial run" was over and he would have to wear a helmet from now on. That resulted in a near total meltdown, the noise of which caused several neighbors to evacuate their homes and take to the street. In case of a martial law emergency, I have to imagine. Look, we may be suckers, but we're suckers for safety, my friend, and just so you know, the last time he rode a bike, last Father's Day, he fell and broke his arm.
Helmet. Wear it.
And he did. But not before we got "The Look" from our neighbors! haha! Whatever, amateurs, we only had to outlast him this one time. He wears his helmet every time now, and it was worth every jaw-clenching, aggravating minute of his tempter tantrum because, in the end, we won. We are that petty ~ believe it.
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Parents who are petty enough to outlast a temper tantrum are rare indeed! The world needs far more of them so that those of us who will live long enough to depend on Scotty's generation in our doddering old age will be ok!
ReplyDeletei am double petty. yay red bike!
ReplyDeleteKelly's cousin Craig has been in many bicycle races, and has taken a few spills that have cracked his helmet. If his kids ride anything that has wheels, they wear a helmet. Not to say it's pulled off without oposition and a few tantrums.
ReplyDelete@Kelly ~ Yep, maybe it's because we're teachers, so we see it all the time...nobody's doing nobody any favors with over-indulging every whim these kids come up with!
ReplyDelete@Michelle ~ ha! I can't even imagine getting the temper tantrum "in stereo"...ugh, you're a better woman than I am. :)
@Pat ~ That's what I'm talking about, right there. We grew up riding motorcycles, and you know what? We wear helmets. It's the same thing, too, because you see what happens ~ even what COULD happen ~ and that's enough for me.
@Juls ~ ha! I'll tell Erik that one, he'll laugh. Thanks, and you too!!