There is something that absolutely tickles me.
When Colin turned two, he received a three-wheeler for his birthday. It was love at first sight. Besides tearing around corners in our house at amazing speeds (even before he could reach the pedals), he loved to lift the seat and store things in the secret compartment there. It is delightful to see what a toddler values enough to carry with them. I would periodically lift it to find balls, pennies or pretty leaves. It was a little window to his world. And I can't tell you how many times we searched for our keys or the remote and then finally thought to check inside his car to see them sitting there. Hey, if mom and dad thought those things were so important, they must be worth stashing!
Gabriel has slowly been taking ownership of the little car. Well, with good reason. Don't think we are bad parents when I tell you why. One day, Colin was earning time-out after time-out and after his final offense, I finally took away his car as a punishment. To top it off, I decided that it while Colin wasn't allowed to play with it for the day, Gabe was. Wow, did Gabe catch on to that quickly. He smugly rode it all over that day, his chubby toddler legs barely touching the ground, let alone the pedals.
Well, the next day, when Colin was allowed to ride it again, Gabe still insisted it was his. His obstinate and resounding "noh!" rang through the house, and it took some coaxing and convincing to get Gabe, the new boss, to give Colin some turns. Since then, and with Colin's growing desire to get a big boy bike, the little car has been moving on to the almost-two-year-old.
So now when I peek under the seat, I get to see what Gabe treasures. There are some graham crackers and cars in there right now. Today I was on the computer when I heard him shuffle into the room on the car, then stop, open the lid, and "gulp gulp ahh." I turned around to see him put a regular cup(not a sippy), with water in it, back inside his car. Well, little boys do get thirsty while they are riding, don't they?
