Cute Scootin' Boogie

Truitt and I spend a lot of time at a couple of neighborhood parks. Proctor Park is just 2 blocks from our house and is wonderful for a lot of reasons. One thing that makes it special is this huge covered area which used to be a basketball court. The courts attracted some not-so-savory characters to the neighborhood back in the day (empty 40s and lots of swearing were the norm) so they were taken down and the courts have become a canvas for sidewalk chalk and min-raceway for anything with wheels.

Like they do everywhere, all the older kids here have Razor scooters and Truitt is singularly obsessed. Every time we go to the park, he picks one up, tries to ride it, falls off, gets hurt and tries again. I have been on a something of a toy buying hiatus, still able to pull new Thomas toys and other gifts from his birthday out of storage. However, I decided I should just buck up and get the kid a scooter that will be safe, easy for him to ride and just plain make him happy. So, I did.

Here he is, his 1st day with his new scooter. All he talked about all morning was his scooter. He only went to school willingly with the promise of being able to ride it in the afternoon.

After he was certain it would go on the concrete, he decided to take it on more rugged terrain.

Then it was time for a water break, but certainly no leaving the scooter behind. Nope. Instead, we'll just drag it back to home base.

Turtle had some water and an apple slice and wanted to check out the happenings around the park. This of course was best done from the excellent vantage point of atop the scooter.

One good thing is he is very safety conscious. Or, at least he likes to wear his helmet. We bought this for him after he got a tricycle for Christmas (as you might remember from previous posts) and it's come in very handy. He knows he needs to wear it and puts it on willingly more often than not. This day he wore it on the wagon ride over and kept it on even for non-scootering activities.

I thought these were worth while, lest you think it's all fun and games with this two year old. While he was very happy with the scooter, he threw a wall-eyed fit when another kid tried to get in to the wagon. He not only leaped across the top of the wagon and threw his body in to it to try and block anyone else from sitting in it, but when the other child was already in the wagon, Turtle proceeded to smack him. Hitting is not tolerated and Mama certainly isn't afraid to put T-man in time out wherever and whenever it's warranted.

By the time he was done with timeout, several other toys had caught his eye and he was pretty much done scootering for the day. One of the great things about this park is the unwritten rule that if you bring toys, they are fair game. Not that kids are allowed to rip them from each others' hands or anything, but if your kid abandons a truck/bike/bubble blower/scooter, another kid is likely to pick it up and have a turn. That being ok pretty much goes without saying.

Eventually, Kelcey and Keller showed up and Truitt was very happy to have a playmate from his group. They had a lot of fun running in circles, throwing leaves and mulch at each other and generally just being boys. They even laughed hysterically while smacking each other. Boys, I guess? Swinging isn't usually something Turtle enjoys, but I guess with the right company.... They had a great time and I had a hungry and exhausted toddler 3 hours later. Thanks, Proctor!