The Abby Blog

Had a bike ride with Abby this morning to the library and back.  Stopped at the little park near the library.  Abby asked why the stone pillar was called a stone pillar.  Forgot my wallet so couldn’t buy a bagel.

After figuring out how to spell ‘Book’ yesterday, today Abby read the work ‘Look’ while reading all by herself.

We had dinner at Pasta Pomodoro.  Abby got shells and cheese but refused to eat it; tried to wipe cheese off with a napkin.  After dinner she had fun playing out on the sidewalk; said the restaurant was a ‘little too loud’.

Later Abby was in the bathroom and poured out a whole bunch of cotton balls.  At first she said that it was snow.  Then when we told her to pick it up she said “I’m picking up manna”.

Mom, Pokey and Granny got Abby ready.  She said she needed her pajamas snapped because she said she needed to go to the store.  Granny said that it was bedtime, not time for the store.  Abby looked Granny right in the eyes and said seriously “it’s the pretend grocery store”.  Granny said “but you’re going to it’s the real bed”.

Abby wants to wish Granny Lin a happy birthday!

Today being the first of May is the arrival of a day long awaited by Abby - the water spraying thing at the Redwood City park becomes activated!  I had forgotten but she expressed an urgent desire to visit after differ.  It was a bit late for a visit but her disappointed face prompted me to take her anyway.  We got on our bikes and got over there as soon as our pedals could take us.

We arrived at 6:55pm.  The water hours end at 7.  But fortunately upon pressing the hand-shaped ignition button we saw a plume of water burst forth.  Abby immediately began a change of costume that quite frankly made no sense to me - she had no bathing attire but thought by taking off her long sleeved shirt and leaving on her overalls that she would be appropriately dressed.  After some convincing she abandoned the plan and we instead simply viewed the water attraction from a distance, resolving in future to bring a swimsuit and arriving at an early time.

Abby then played on swings, the exercise-climbing-pedal-thing, and the climbing structure before we had to head home - though not before (with some prodding) Abby recounted one of the funniest things she’s seen - a commercial with chickens where one of them uses the word ’stupid’.  To Abby, ’stupid’ is a four letter word - she’s strictly not allowed to use it - so she laughs at the same way we might laugh at profanity.  Strangely she seems to think it’s ok to say ’stupid’ if it’s in the context or quoting the chicken.

When we got home, Jenn was gone at her prayer group.  Tomorrow she, Jenn, Pokey and Jenny go down to Salinas for a day.

As I was getting out of bed, Abby came into our room, climbed on the bed and whispered to me “Daddy, we should go on a bike ride to the bagel store”. I couldn’t say no! So we quickly got suited and helmeted up to go. I make sure Jenn ties up Abby’s hair each time before a ride now to avoid it getting in her face. We rode to the bagel store. Abby will insist I not pedal while going down a hill. I think this is because I tell *her* not to pedal, because usually going down a hill I need to keep on the brakes and don’t want her accelerating. She’s a real rule-follower sometimes. She’ll ask why I don’t completely stop and put my feet down at a stop sign too. At any rate we got to the bagel store. We chose to go to the “New York, New York” deli rather than “House of Bagels” just because they’re new and because Abby wanted to go in. We got her a cinnamon raisin bagel. We got 2 everything bagels for Jenn, Granny and Pokey. Abby then wanted to ride to the ‘Park with no rides’ which is called Laurel Park. Laurel Park should be called ‘donor vanity park’ because every brick, every planter, every water fountain and every garbage can has a little plaque dedicating it to someone. We had our bagels there on a bench and had a nice exchange with the maintenance guy who was watering plants. Also saw a woman who had managed to train her cat to walk on a leash. We then headed home. A couple of times, notably near our under-construction Burton Park Abby requested I stop so that I could read the signage to her.

Yesterday we got a new fence!

For dinner Matt grilled hamburgers that Jenn made.  Abby was a ball of energy and questions.  She wanted to be bundled up in a blanket on the swing while I cooked them.

Abby got some neat things from ‘Granny Lin’.  We are excited about planting the wildflowers!   And the musical card was cute and one we expect to hear repeated many times.

After dinner we went on another tandem bike ride around the neighborhood.  Abby likes to help me especially going up the hills.  She reads the numbers of the addresses as we pedal by.  She asked me to explain what the ‘no more than 30 mph’ sign meant.  In fact she wants to know what every sign means.  We stopped at the park at the White Oaks school where Abby did a bunch of climbing and going down of slides.  I told Abby we had to leave when the sun went down behind the trees.  Followup questions were asked about this.  There was a broken ball left there and I had to explain to Abby why we were going to the trouble of discarding it.  We then pedaled home.  Abby gave me a super tight hug before bed.

Abby and I went to REI a week ago or so and saw this contraption called the ‘Afterburner’. It’s basically a bike without a front wheel that attaches to the seat post to a normal bike to let a kid ride behind an adult. It has pedals so she can help, but thankfully the designers anticipated that a brake would be undesirable.

Some practice and coaxing were required over the course of a half hour or so after we got ‘Afterburner’ home. Though she climbed on immediately with excitement, after rolling down the driveway 3 feet Abby entered a state of panic and ran off crying to the front door.  Wanting to prevent a lingering fear, we backed off and started slow. After many assurances of safety we managed to get Abby back on while I walked the bike on the sidewalk 2 houses down and back. Even that required Jenn’s assurance that she brace Abby’s back. Abby semi-reluctantly agreed to do another sortie with less mom support.  In due course we ventured further and further though only under the contract that I remained off my seat walking the bike.  I however upped the ante by walking the bike while straddling it which she consented to with grudging agreement.  Then I put one foot on a pedal, pushing on the ground with the other.  At last the moment of truth arrived and I got on the seat and we went around the block on the sidewalk.  Next thing you know Abby and I were traveling down the street.

Over the next few days we did more trips - to the park, frozen yogurt, to the park again, to the library (where we saw a sort of pantomime play that happened to be going on about a foolish Russian boy), to a different park, and so on.  I have to say it was one of those great moments of helping Abby go from being terrified to being thrilled at every minute of it.

Granny was saying something she felt bad about and Abby chirped “Don’t worry. Jesus will forgive you!”