This is probably not a good sign

[naomikritzer]

We took the kids for a bike ride this evening. This means that Molly rides her bike, Ed and I walk, and Kiera rides this thing she calls Apple Dumpling. Apple Dumpling is kind of hard to describe, but here is a picture of an Apple Dumpling in much better shape (apparently Little Tikes called this an Ollie). Anyway, Apple Dumpling was designed for a smaller kid than Kiera; it isn't really steerable, but a small, fearless child can get it to go really fast. (Yes, Kiera wears a helmet.)

So anyway, we were almost home when Kiera let go of the little handles, held her hands up in the air (while continuing to kick herself along with her feet) and yelled, I kid you not, "Watch this, Mama!"

What evil toddler instant messaging service passed along the idea to her that showing off by doing reckless things on a bike was a good way to impress people? They aren't supposed to try that out until they're at least seven.

Comments

[porphyrin.livejournal.com]

Do' Jesus.

Was it hard to not laugh, once the initial flush of adrenaline washed away?

[naomikritzer]

I settled for an indignant "look what YOUR CHILD is doing, this is clearly YOUR FAULT, you Bostonian person who can steer with his knees" look at dh.

[jimlawrence.livejournal.com]

I had to chuckle when I read this -- it reminded me of when my daughter was not much more than a year old (maybe 15 months or so -- she was walking at nine months) and had her first Big Wheel and insisted on riding it on a walk to the park. The park was several blocks away -- about half a mile -- and part of it was uphill (not a very steep hill but, nevertheless, a definite grade) and Nancy & I figured that after a block or two she would get tired and one of us would carry her and the other would carry her Big Wheel. Nope. She went the full distance and then had a good time playing at the park (although I think she let us carry her home afterwards).

Relax. The really interesting time for parents come when they get their driver's licenses. (As in the purported Chinese saying "May you live in interesting times.")

[naomikritzer]

Oh yeah. The whole driving thing is going to be a BLAST. ::hides under bed::

[jimlawrence.livejournal.com]

P.S.

That was a nice plug Glenn Instapundit Reynolds gave to Freedom's Sisters earlier this week...

"IN THE MAIL: Naomi Kritzer's latest, Freedom's Sisters. I haven't read it yet, but I've enjoyed the first two books in the trilogy (it starts with Freedom's Gate) ever since John Scalzi turned me on to Kritzer's work."

Cool.

Amazon promises me that I will have it between August 2nd and August 4th (using the "free shipping" option) but it's been my experience that stuff usually arrives faster than those estimates. I hope so; I enjoyed the first two and am looking forward to reading it.

[naomikritzer]

Oh, THANK YOU for mentioning that. I was living in fear that the book-sending guy at my publisher had forgotten to send out the books.

I hope you enjoy it!

[jimlawrence.livejournal.com]

And this morning Instapundit said: "FINISHED Naomi Kreitzer's new book, and liked it a lot."

Okay, he did spell your name wrong, but "Naomi Kreitzer's new book" is a hot link to the Amazon.com page for Freedom's Sisters. so I think that counts as a win.