Bikes are like an icon for all of childhood. Bikes bring transportation, fun exercise and empowerment to a kid. I think riding a bike is a big deal. I can clearly remember the rush of the pavement beneath my tenuous bike wheels as I learned to fly across the world on my blue banana seat two wheeler. Peter rode his bike everywhere all the time as a kid – even in the winter!

It is official. Ryan is a big-kid. Well a kid-kid at least (he still has training wheels). He rides his bike around our long driveway and turnout. He has gone on two long bike rides which in tale traveling around the block or to the park. Our neighbor James is a bike enthusiast and spend a whole day working on Ryan’s Spiderman bike (from Target) to enhance its performance! I don’t know too many kids that have their first bike’s chain greased, brakes aligned and spokes adjusted.

It has been so fun to watch Ryan’s determination as he pedals around. Very cool.

He is learning to skateboard and he loves wearing his red skate helmet and pads [largely due to the fact that I think he feels more inline with what a superhero looks like than the actual safety they provide].

We are always pretending to be a family of supers or rescue heroes. I am often addressed as Spiderman-Lady and Molly, of course, is Spiderman-Lady’s baby. He has great sense of justice and right and wrong.

He pretends to play army and says he’ll be in the army for Minnesota when he grows up! He even converted Molly’s exer-saucer into a tank by flipping it on it’s side and adding a radio for communication. He is very brave in most ways but he still hasn’t quite overcome his fear of bugs.

He loves sweets, his sister and the beach.