Three years, three wheels

You'd never guess from the picture above that Jonah is actually very excited to be on his tricycle. He didn't even really mind wearing the knee- and wrist-guards. I had, however, put them on a little too tight (sorry, buddy), and I think that his enthusiasm for the Thomas the Tank Engine-themed safety gear had reached its end. Photos like this make me want to throw in the towel on all this safety stuff. I'm sure that I never wore so much as a helmet before I was an adolescent, and I made it thru my childhood years with nary a broken bone and a fairly reasonable number of stitches. A couple things do keep my disdain of the virtual bubble wrap in check, though: One is the ever-present "what if?" question, accompanied by the memory of my husband's bad (when it could've been truly terrible) bike accident a couple years ago; the other is the disapproving stares (real or imagined, I'm never sure) from other parents that would come my way if I were to risk my child's well-being. The first consideration certainly reigns more strongly than the second, and for that reason, we may never see Jonah without a helmet. Really, though, I'm thinking that the other gear may be a bit much.

This video is about a month old. Jonah's really improved since then, despite the fact that his trike-riding is largely limited to the brief minutes he spends on it in the basement when he heads down to switch the laundry with me. Jonah knows how to make good use of his time, it seems.