1 Mother 2 Another

One of the benefits of blogging is that
it’s an easy way for family members to keep up with you;
rather than having to find time for a decent phone chat while kids
clamor for your attention, you can simply keep relatives updated
via the Internet on your child’s daily life. And for their
part, relatives are allowed a daily glimpse into a long-distance
life of a loved one, permitting them to feel that they’re not
totally missing out on everything.


So it’s no surprise to me that many of Maddie and
Cora’s grandparents read this daily (hi, y’all). And
last week one set of grandparents enjoyed my story of Maddie riding
her “borrowed” tricycle in Target so much that they
were moved to action.

We’ve held off buying Maddie a
tricycle of her own even though she clearly loves them. Finances
are tight and we can’t justify such expenses right now, much
as we’d like to. And to be fair, Maddie's never thrown a
"buy me one!" fit and has been good-natured about not owning one.
But yesterday Maddie received a gift card in the mail for Target,
with instructions to head on out and pick up her tricycle (and
helmet, of course). It took a moment for this to sink in; all
Maddie saw was a photo of a tricycle, and didn’t understand
at first that she was about to go get her own. When reality hit, my
kid was bouncing off the wall and almost out the door before we
could get her shoes on.


In short, she was ready to shop.


Brian took Maddie while I stayed home, so I can only imagine the
joy on her face as she picked hers out to bring home. Brian told me
they “tested” a couple, looking for the shiniest, with
the best basket in the back and the fluffiest handle streamers. And
Maddie rode up and down the aisles faster than Steve McQueen while
Brian picked out the helmet; she even asked if she could ride the
tricycle home.


Maddie didn’t get the vintage Red Ryder tricycle she had
ridden over vacation; it was between that one and a folding one
that is just a bit smaller. This was a tough decision for us: the
vintage trike is bigger and will last longer, but is not quite
rideable yet since her legs still need to grow a bit. It’s
also a bit bulkier to store. On the other hand, the Fold N’
Go will be outgrown in a year, but is immediately useable and
stores smaller.


Usually we go for buying whatever is the sturdiest and will work
the longest, making our dollars stretch as far as possible. This
time, though, we deliberately went for instant gratification,
knowing our kid’s going to be inseparable from that trike for
a while and not wanting her to get frustrated. In a year or so she
can upgrade and the current one can be folded and stored for Cora.


Right now, though, it’s in our basement rec room, where
Maddie rode it around in a frenzy after getting home. We extended
bedtime a few minutes to give her some time with her beloved toy,
and if she’d had a tail it’d have fallen off from all
the wagging. Maddie would ride a bit (singing Elmo’s song, of
course), then stop and get off to put some toys in the little
basket. Then she’d ride some more, then sit and admire the
streamers on the handlebars. The whole time, she wore her helmet
(to look just like Elmo) even though we were indoors. And at one
point, Maddie rode a bit, then stopped and got off and stared at
it. “What’s the matter, sweetie?” I asked.


“I just want to look at it,” she sighed happily.


I want to go off on a tangent here for a second and say that lots
of things change when you have kids, and one of those things is
your pride. You might spend your whole adulthood eating Ramen
noodles rather than ask your folks for grocery money, but when your
children are born and your parents offer to run to the fruit stand,
you don’t stammer or hem or haw – you just say,
“Thank you”. Because you want better for your kids than
you can always provide and being the one to make your child happy
isn’t as important as making your child happy.


So Nana and Papa-


Thank you.