What's all that got to do with the price of gas?!

Little Sylvia just had a birthday. She turned 2 on May 7th. Two years have gone by so quickly. Who would have guessed one day we'd be swaddling a newborn and the next we'd be chasing around this little being who has powers much beyond what her diminutive size implies. We have fun together, especially when we get to all hang out as a family. Such was the case at Mayday this year. Sylvia was happy to ride around in the Burley while we pedaled through the crowds at Powderhorn Park. It was a perfect spring day, cool with a bit of drizzle. All the pagans were out in force, happy to be able to flaunt their non-conformism in public. I love it. Even if I don't have the spontaneous free-spiritedness to join in on a whim, I certainly hope Sylvia learns much from these formative experiences.

Here we are at Lake Calhoun just a couple miles from our house. I'm attempting to show Sylvia how to spot fish swimming near the shore. She had fun chasing the minnows. Mostly she had fun progressively testing the limits of how far she could wade despite our urging not to go too deep. She tests boundaries so much already. Hopefully she'll grow out of it by her teenage years, but I'm sure it will only get worse.

We bike most everywhere and, since I ride to work everyday, I never really notice gas prices. I overheard some coworkers talking about how expensive gas prices have become. $3.35/gal or something like that. How ridiculously wonderful, I thought. I don't hate to sound like a morbid curmudgeon -- it is music to my ears.

April's parents were in town last weekend to buy a recumbent at Calhoun Cycle and to celebrate Sylvia's birthday. Sylvia and I decided to hang back at the bike shop while the family was on a test ride. I was making small talk with the shop mechanics when a car pulled out of the parking lot. I told Sylvia to be careful and watch for cars. She said, "Cars are coffins." The shop guys got a kick out of it. She's been saying that now for a couple of months. And I hope she remembers it, believes it and lives by it. Just in case she doesn't, I stuck a little reminder on her birthday tricycle.