Strider Bike and Water Days

Kids around Smiley Court learn to ride their bikes early. I see kids that have just turned three riding a bike without training wheels. Yes, these kids are all offspring of very smart people, but beyond that, I don't think they are unusually coordinated. What makes the difference is that most of these kids have ridden a Strider Bike from the time they were two. The Strider is a balance bike. Kids push themselves with their feet and eventually, they get going fast enough to cruise and then they'll put their feet up on the bar which teaches them how to balance and steer. Then, when they get on a bike with pedals, they've learned the basic balance technique and within a few weeks, they are riding like pros without training wheels.

So, when the local consignment shop called me to tell me they had a strider bike come in, I immediately packed Sammy into the car and we went over and bought it.

Sam spends a lot of time watching and helping daddy fix his bike. He is absolutely fascinated with bike mechanics and is always getting his hands covered with chain grease because he plays with Don's road bike that lives in our kitchen hallway. He loves to push the pedals around and make the wheel spin and watch how the chain moves over the sprockets.

Naturally, once we got his strider bike home, he got out his hammer and screwdriver that came in a toolbox Cam and Zach gave him for his birthday and set to work fixing up his bike.

Making sure the screws under the seat are all nice and tight.

Just using the wrench to tighten up this bar, mom...

He hasn't really taken an interest in riding the bike but he often talks about fixing "Sammy's bike" and gets his hammer and screwdriver out and helps daddy fix whatever bike Don is working on.

I'm hoping he'll eventually like the strider but as for now, he keeps it tuned and ready to go for the moment he decides he wants to take the bike for a spin.

He walked the bike to this point from our gate (which you can see behind him). This is as far as he's ever been interested in going. He just looks so cute in his little mushroom helmet; like the Mario Brothers mushroom. I love it!

In Family Housing, we have water days. Basically, on a different day of the week for the entire summer, each of the three Family Housing courts puts out pools, sprinklers, slip n' slides, etc. and the kids come out in droves to cool off.

Sam is usually pretty hesitant about getting in the water. In fact, at the first Smiley Court water days (where our apartment is) he refused to get in the water for the first hour and a half and only jumped in as the Resident Managers started cleaning up. He then had such a great time that the RMs were nice enough to leave the pool out so Sam could keep splashing.

He would stand up and jump and land on his bottom making a huge splash over and over and over. He would also roll onto his belly and usually ended up snuffling up a bunch of water on accident. He'd splutter and cough and then start the process over. Jump, splash, jump, splash...

Roll, snuffle, splutter, cough!

Splash!

I love water days and one of the best parts of not being a Resident Manager anymore is that I don't have to set up and clean up (which means I get to avoid the wet, muddy, grass clipping covered, hot sweatiness).