At lunchtime we decided to take the kids out to Mitsuwa Marketplace so we could get away from the house and the sump pump issues that kept us homebound all weekend. (It broke on Friday, the utility room was flooded and it seeped into the larger area. A yucky mess.) I heated up chicken nuggets for Ronin and put together Nikko's latest fave: a "turkey and cheese sandwich" which is really soft wheat bread with the crusts cut off and half a slice of cheddar cheese, SANS turkey. Every time Nikko wants one he says the entire phrase. We put the kids in the car and were backing out of the driveway when I looked at Nikko, who put a hand out to me and whined a little. I asked him what he wanted and he said, "Seatbelt." I glanced at his straps and saw that they indeed weren't fastened. Oops! Ok, safety gaffe. But I was impressed that Nikko was able to recognize that he wasn't strapped into his seat, was bothered by it, and brought it to my attention. He could have continued to sit there without a seat belt, but didn't. Ronin was able to tell me when he wasn't buckled in at 2.5 years old. For Nikko, this is progress!
When we got home from lunch and a quick stop to the grocery, the boys wanted to play outside. Audrey had fallen asleep in the carseat so Denis took her inside. I had Ronin on his big wheel trike and Nikko made a beeline for the Radio Flyer tricycle. He got really upset because it wasn't working and on further inspection I saw that a bolt and screw had fallen off the front wheel axle. I fixed it, but not without Nikko doing a lot of shrieking and crying. I almost gave up because of that shrieking. Still, I wanted Nikko to have the opportunity to ride it, and away we went. To my surprise, Nikko was pedaling with his feet and steering, albeit slightly clumsily. He kept looking up over his right shoulder. Maybe he was listening to his guardian angel who was coaching him to keep rotating one foot with the other, to use his core muscles and push forward. Nikko was riding a tricycle! I had my camera and tried to film it. I think I got a little choked up while narrating so I stopped. But really, I felt so, so proud of Nikko. I had no idea when the time would come that he would make sense out of alternating bike pedals. This seems silly and trivial to a regular kid, but to me it is HUGE for Nikko. Can't say enough, I am so proud of him.
No comments:
Post a Comment