I like to ride my bicycle

After we came back from the UK, and just before starting school again, Ilona decided she was going to learn to ride her bike. So on August 31st she woke up unable to ride her bike, but by night time she could do it. She ran into the house excited to tell us (we had no idea) and I went out and shot the video of almost her first successful bike ride. Now every day when she get home from school she wants to go ride her bike round and round and round and round our drive at ever increasing speed. It's kind of a child's biggest milestone after learning to talk. 

We also bought Wilder a bike as he needed one too.

Bluet's Bicycle

One of the big hits of the visit has been Bluet's bike (or more accurately, the helmet that goes with it - it has been very hard to get Bluet to take it off, even inside. Maybe in a couple of years bicycle helmets will be the cool thing to wear at school.

Aberdeen Part II

As we approached the weekend more and more people arrived. By Friday, Bluet had been joined by her cousin Della, and her grandparents and uncle all the way from Missouri. Wayne proved to be particularly popular with the children as he invented some great new games. And when the games were done there were plenty of cows to go look at.

Of course, not all of Bluet's chosen activities were entirely age appropriate. But Bluet does like to ride a bicycle.

And then....

.....we returned to Nana and Wayne's house, where Bluet once again had fun, but most importantly, Bluet's great Aunt Kathy gave Bluet a haircut, viz:

Before

During

After

From the back

Bluet also played some more in the garden. Here she is pretending to eat huckleberry nuts with a plastic spoon

   talking to the cat 

Riding a bicycle

  running around the library

And just generally exploring

She also got Wayne to read her 'Goodnight Moon' about 35 times. One time Nana asked her "Who wrote it? [Goodnight Moon] and Bluet said 'Wayne'. She also enjoyed this Curious George book, but not quite as much

As well as having a haircut, when we returned to St Louis on the way home, Emily painted Bluet and Lila's toes purple.

 

Back from Missouri

We just today returned from a very pleasant week in Missouri. I have a lot of photos, so we will catch up with all the news over the next few days. One thing Bluet particularly enjoyed was being able to play freely outside. So to begin our recreation of our week in Missouri, here are some videos of Bluet enjoying the fun toys and animals available to play with at 'Wayne and Nana's House'. The first video shows her using her imagination to create a turtle from hickory nuts. Then you can enjoy Bluet playing with Cindy the cat (if you listen carefully you can hear her say 'has a tail' amidst all the meowing. Finally, Bluet gets to grips with the bicycle and the automobile.