It's my birthday and she'll crawl if she wants to. . .

I'm 40! Woohoo!

I've been waiting for this for two decades on the premise that once I'm forty, people will have to take me more seriously. Also, they won't be carding me any more. We'll see if that's true or just wishful thinking (I'm optimistic about the carding; less so about the taking me seriously).

A. has decided Today Is the Day to Crawl. Fortunately, she's also interested in pulling herself up on stuff and standing next to them and holding on, which helps distract her from teh Awesomeness that is electrical outlets. Best of all, she's going after R. and his computer, instead of me.

If you know me, and you are on the East Coast, and you haven't gotten an invitation from me via Socializr, one of a few things has happened:

(1) It's in your spam filter (or you haven't checked e-mail recently).
(2) I don't have your current e-mail address (could be my bad. Believe me. Could be my bad.)
(3) I concluded that wherever I think you live is ridiculously far away from Acton, MA and you couldn't realistically be expected to attend -- so if you think where you live is NOT ridiculously far from Acton, let me know and I'll add you.

Feel free to send me e-mail, or comment, or whatever and we'll figure it out.

random phone calls and, it pays to delay

We got some mail about a check that has been trying to chase us down for the last 4 years -- reimbursing from canceled auto insurance when we moved from NH to Seattle back in 2005. While R. was on the phone trying to dig up a fax number to return the form to, he got the call waiting beep and handed the phone off to me. It was one of the therapeutic riding programs, saying they were expanding their program and did we want to come in on Sunday to do a trial lesson.

Heck yeah!

Good things come to those who wait. I had been debating pinging the place in Holliston again since I'd gotten no response to my okay-let's-schedule-a-lesson e-mail. Lucky for me, procrastinating and all.

We _walked_ to the _walkable_ restaurant

We went to lunch at Julia's Place today. I was attempting to convince T. to go on his bike. R. got A. in the stroller after asserting we should just take the car. T. wanted me to get on my bike and go around the block with him. But once R. headed down Prospect, T. was willing to go ahead so off we went. There was a skirmish at the turn to go around the block, but I herded him along. There was a skirmish crossing midblock into the parking lot, but that worked out. No skirmish ditching bike and stroller outside the restaurant. Lunch was largely successful, then T. wanted to leave (actually, diaper overflow, which we had to deal with, then leave), so I left R. and A. to collect everything and stroller out while I rode herd on T. who was, unfortunately, going a lot faster than me (wheels).

A guy stopped in the road on the way to the restaurant (well, we were going to -- he was driving the other way) to yell at us to put a helmet on T.

So here's my question. He's on a balance bike. He's moving _no faster_ than a small child's running pace -- there's no hill or anything to coast down so he can't get going more than 5-6 mph. He's _on the sidewalk_, and balance bikes by definition are really low to the ground. Why the *fuck* would a kid in this scenario need a helmet? Do kids need helmets to run down the sidewalk?

I thought not.

It's like there is this magical thinking going on. Wheels, ergo helmet. Let's show a _little_ sense here.

But Mr. I-Know-What-Your-Kid-Should-Be-Doing Buzzkill was not annoying enough to erase the thrill of having _walked_, with two children, to a restaurant, eaten lunch, and returned home on foot (and 2 wheeler, and stroller, but still).

ETA: And because someone out there is going to take Mr. Buzzkill's side, I'll just deposit this turd from the Bicycle Helmet Safety Institute:

http://www.bhsi.org/campus.htm

"First, ask your Physics prof what can happen to a head dropped from the normal height where you ride, say about 5 feet up, when it hits the concrete walkway. Your prof will tell you about g forces the head can experience from that drop height. Bike helmets are tested in a two meter drop, a little higher, but that five feet is all the impact you need to mess up your brain. You don't need forward speed at all, although it can make it worse--ask the Physics prof about vectors."

This is an argument for wearing a helmet while standing upright as an adult of average size. Is this _really_ where we want to go with this?

ETAYA: And yeah, I know a lot of accidents happen on sidewalks. But we were the only people and cyclists on the sidewalk at the time, T. was supervised throughout, he never got more than a few yards ahead of us and was going at an adult walking pace pretty much the whole time.