Fish

While pondering what to write about today, I decided to let Braeden choose.  I looked over at him with his face full of ketchup and hands greasy with fish.  There was my answer.

I'll let him tell you about it:

***

Hi.  This is Braeden.  I love to eat fish.

I love it so much.  If somebody talks about eating fish, then I really remember that I like to eat it.  Then that's all I think about until I get to eat fish.  I will remind whoever is around me that it's time to eat fish.

There is a colorful fish truck in our front yard.  The fish there is really yummy.  I can eat it all.  Craig makes the fish, and he is really nice to me.  I like Craig.

Sometimes a friend brings fish for Mommy, and she cooks it up for me.  I can eat a whole fillet of fish by myself.  Sometimes Mommy and Grammy don't even get much fish because I can grab handfuls of it so fast and stuff it in my mouth and chew it and swallow it and stuff in more.  They always look surprised at me when they see how fast I can eat a lot of fish, but they really shouldn't be surprised anymore.

It makes me feel really good to eat fish.  And after I eat all the fish, I feel full and I don't think about food for a really long time.  Except for ice cream.  I can always eat ice cream!

When I was in my mom's belly, I made her eat a lot of fish.  I made her go out for fish sandwiches and eat the whole thing.  Thanks, Mommy!  It was really good.

Maybe someday I will learn how to catch fish and eat them myself.  Daddy will have to teach me cuz Mommy doesn't fish.  

I think that's all I have to say about fish.  Okay, see ya!

By Special Request

You asked for it!

Okay, even if you didn't, other people did, so you can just enjoy then.

Here are the explanations for the above videos that somehow formatted funny and I can't type above them.  Ha!

The first video is our performance of White Rabbit.  Brady P. was a diligent little donation gatherer and dancer.  Bless his heart!

The second video was a real tear jerker for the audience.  We sang the Beautiful song together. He wasn't all in this time, but at least he didn't shout NO! at me!

Enjoy a slice of our little performance in the park.  Thank you so much to everyone who attended, applauded, donated, laughed and grooved.  And thank you, Daddio for capturing some of it.  It was a magical time.

Sorry...

Hey!

It's a pretty busy week for me.  Tomorrow (Thursday) my band, Powers of Air, will be performing in the Copper Harbor park from 7-9pm.  You should come!  We do mostly classic rock tunes.

Brady P. will be there.  I wonder what he will do when he sees me on stage!

And don't worry, I'll get you that picture I promised.

xoxoxo

Chariot Rider

Oh, my gosh.  Is it Wednesday already?

Somebody might need to remind me of that until Brady P. starts school in three weeks because we've just been enjoying each minute of these last days of summer.

Yeah.  I said it.

The nights are getting cooler.  I can tell what's coming.

But it's all going to be okay.  I don't think we'll have any regrets from this summer.  It's probably been the best one ever!

One thing we started doing is going on longer bike rides together.  I'll let him tell you about it.

***

Hi.  This is Braeden.  I'm really cool.

Sometimes I go for a bike ride with my mom.  I get in my chariot behind the bike.  I can crawl in all by myself.  I am really proud to do it.

I sit inside really nice and mommy buckles me in.  Then she puts on my helmet.  I am really cool when I wear my helmet.  I can knock on it with my hand and it sounds loud.  

But sometimes I take it off while I'm in there.  Mommy gets mad and puts it back on.  She tries to be nice about it because she has hers on too, so we are both cool.  And safe.

Then she takes me up the hill.  It's a little slow because it's up a hill.  But I like to watch the trees and bushes and flowers go by.  I can see through my chariot really good.  

The way down is better, though.  I like that we can go fast sometimes.  If I had my way, we would go fast all the time.  When I learn to ride a bike, I will ride really fast.

Some roads are bumpy.  I don't like that.  It's too much bumping around, and sometimes I drop my snack.  But mom will say that we're almost there, and I try to wait.  It's hard to wait sometimes, especially when I want to get out and walk.

She doesn't let me walk much when she rides her bike because I take too many breaks and don't always go the way mommy says.  But sometimes I can walk and she will pop wheelies for me.  Like when we eat berries off the trail.  They are really yummy and I'm good at finding them.

Okay, but now it's time to throw rocks, so see ya! 

Picture coming soon!  If I forget, remind me!!!

Trail Coordination

I do a lot of different things here in the Harbor.  And actually, so do most people who live here.  It's just what we do!

Two main things I do are raise Brady P. and coach mounting biking.

Those things may seem quite different from each other, but today, while traversing the trail to Hunter's Point beach with him, I saw how much they are the same.

Imagine you are in the Hunter's Point parking lot.  There are a couple ways to get to the beach, right?  You can take that boardwalk close to the shore, which is what we (and most people) usually do, or you can go in at that little trail just west of the boardwalk.

Since Brady P. was already hoofing it west, we decided to take that trail.

As a woman with strong, nimble legs, that trail is exciting and fun to hike.  For a more delicate person or, say, a tiny boy who is still learning balance and building strength, that trail is quite challenging -- even impossible in spots.

That totally translates to learning to mountain bike.  

I imagined that walking those conglomerate rock drops for him would look riding some of those big conglomerate drops on the mountain bike trails for me.  It's a paralleled situation.

So many times I have ridden to a rock or obstacle on my bike only to stop and get off, saying, "Nope.  Not today!" and walked my bike down.

Whether it was fear of falling or the realization that I didn't have the skills, coordination, strength or balance to traverse that obstacle that day, I decided to walk.

I watched Brady P. do that same mental evaluation today.

In some spots, he looked down and lifted his little feet over the roots and rocks either slowly and carefully or with quick confidence.  He knew he could do it somehow.  Some spots, however, were too steep for him, so he sat down and slid on his bum to a safer spot.  

As I watched him, I didn't give encouragement.  Nor I didn't say, "Oh, be careful!"  I just let him do what he thought was best, and observed his strengths and the areas he needs to improve on.  Some are mental, and some are physical.  But he did it all safely.

It seems to me that he knows what he can do and what he's not ready for.  But I can guarantee that it won't be long before he will do that whole trail without sitting down. He is determined. 

Just like me when I conquered the Red Trail on my bike.

Not hiking, but showing you how cool he is!