Blending and Bicycling

Today Aa.-girl and I made some raw vegan caesar salad dressing. I laid out the ingredients in the order to be put into the blender and she followed my instructions perfectly. I was pleasantly surprised. Verbal instructions are becoming easier for her to follow. I couldn't demonstrate the activity or I'd have to have 2 batches of dressing. I guess in hindsight that wouldn't have been so bad as it's so yummy!

Here's Aa. on her balance bike, otherwise known as a running bike. If you have yet to hear about them you're in for a treat in my opinion. They are very small, two wheeled bicycles without pedals. Toddlers as young as 18mo. can learn how to balance and glide along on the bike. No need for training wheels which essentially hinder the child from learning to balance. I think Maria Montessori would have approved! Aa. ha a Strider Bike. The videos of the kids riding is adorable and impressive. So far Aa. isn't too interested in hers even though she's had it since she was 18mo. old. She can walk with it between her legs by herself but hasn't developed the confidence to sit on the seat and push along yet. I'm sure it will come soon. We first bought her a wooden German made balance bike but we found it to be too heavy for our slight little girl to handle and the turning radius of the front wheel was designed to be very large so riding it in small spaces was not doable. I highly recommend these bikes instead of tricycles. Much more fun and is pretty much an open ended learning tool.

We are going on a visiting spree for 2 weeks starting today. First to Grandpa J.'s then to Grandma and Grandpa T.'s and we'll go camping and to see 3 great grandma's! I probably won't be posting much until after the trip but I'm sure we'll have so much to share when we get back! I hope I come up with some new ways to keep a 2 year old happy in the car for extended periods of time. Will share if I do!