The Sweetness

The summer of 2010 will go to the books noted as a short one. A wet, long spring plodded to the 4th of July before cleaning up the spent fire works and suddenly it was Labor Day. Now with leaves starting to fall, Jimmy Storm and the Farmer's Almanac both call for a wet autumn and winter.

As short as the summer was, I think it was one of the best I've experienced in a long while. Except for the part where we all got pneumonia, but let us focus on the positive.

There was a big push in gaining rehab ground. I had more progress than over-doing it and ending up back on the couch. I'm anxious for my favorite fall and winter activities as last year's attempts at cross country skiing with G in tow were a ton of fun.

G learned of the sweetness of summer and ate Otter pops after every boat bike ride, every trip to the park, every ride on his tricycle around the block and every time we entered the house through the garage, passing the beer/ice-cream/Otter Pop fridge, which was almost every time we came home from anywhere. In the summer that he learned to climb the vertical ladder to the play structure at the park, he also learned to suck the sugary nectar from the frozen Otter pop until the ice remaining was white from a lack of colored syrup.



He learned to appreciate the taste of water from the hose, water from a drinking fountain and to swallow warm water back washed with food, from a bottle for hydration 3 hours into a 5 hour bike ride. He ate Fig Newtons, smeared Fig Newtons, threw Fig Newtons and sat on Fig Newtons. He even found where mom keeps the Fig Newton stash.

We went to the weekly series at the Velodrome for the 'kiddie kilo'. And of course the ducks and horses kept across the pond behind the track too. Talking him out of his disappointment that he couldn't actually ride on the 43 degree banking on his tricycle was an entertaining conversation I ever expected to have.



We had family outings for ice-cream, pizza and just to enjoy an afternoon. A received compliments on her bike as well as her fenders at Bridge Pedal and G thanked Jesus for Baja Fresh at bedtime on more than one of my nights to cook.

We did a handful of 3+ hour boat-bike rides. Rides that on a single bike might take a little more than an hour. G practiced his animal names from a book, learned to make sounds with a harmonica, waved at people and played with my keys. He explained to me what each key was for and asked about the ones that he didn't recognize. He knows the Willamette river from the Columbia from Johnson Creek. As well as which parks we pass if we make a left out of the driveway instead of a right.

We transitioned from using the merry-go-round as a hip strengthening rehab device in March to the best venue for a 2-year old to tempt fate.



Summer might well be behind us now in the NW, but the mud puddles of autumn are only days away.