May 25, 2007 by Barbara.

On Saturday morning at the crack of dawn, but closer to 8 am, I took Reid out to look at yard sales for a bicycle. Of course, I didn’t mention it to her in case our search was fruitless, like my wagon hunt at the Great Glebe Garage Sale last year. I’d scoped out bikes at Canadian Tire on Friday and have to confess that 49 dollars was way more than I was willing to spend. There had been signs for a community yard sale in part of Orleans and, I thought, surely there will be signs to follow. There were signs, the first one was big and mentioned the name of the community sale. All of the others that I found were for individual sales. We drove by two yard sales before we saw “it”. It was shiny red with black and sat near the road. I rushed a confused Reid out of her seat and kept an eye on the road for people rushing up unencumbered by kids. As soon as I set Reid down, she made a bee line for the bike calling, “Look, Mama, a bike-a-sil!” over her shoulder. I pulled out a 20 to cover the cost and immediately carried the bike to the car while the guy got my change. Reid wanted to get in the car with her new bike but I insisted we look at the books (like we need any ;+), puzzles (ditto) and games since we were obviously at a place with kids just the right age. We found some books and puzzles. I wondered if Reid would say “yes” to anything I offered but she turned down a Blue’s Clues puzzle but accepted a map puzzle - just like her dad in that regard. Of course Reid wanted to ride the bike as soon as we left but I reminded her that we had places we needed to go. As we drove to Kindermusik and then Upper Canada Village, Reid stroked the bike’s seat. Once home again, I asked Ken to put the training wheels on. He did and so on Sunday morning, Reid was able to take her bike for a spin. Which she did. In the heavy drizzle, okay, if you weren’t two and riding your first bike you might have called it rain. Reid peddled some and pushed with her tippy toes, too. Both worked well enough to make her happy. Our driveway is surprisingly steep in its slope when you’re just learning to ride a bike. But to have a bike, that is such a great thing! Just ask Reid.

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May 25, 2007 by Barbara.

As Ken and Reid were driving home Wednesday night, they were discussing the buses and trucks that they see, the colours of cars, where the vehicles were going, that sort of thing. Ken said, “On the other hand, we’re going home.” Reid perked up and asked, “Where is the other hand.” Ken never told me what his answer was but I’m sure it was a good one.

On the one hand, it’s going to be a scorcher today. On the other, well, it’ll be disgustingly humid, too. Stay cool.

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