My dad is not a photographer

I'll tell the story before I show the picture, because the thousand words the photo might say don't do the story justice. Come to think of it, neither will my writing skills. Ah, well. Onward!

As I've mentioned, I headed down to MA to deliver the itty and bitty bike to my niece Sadiebug. It was a five-hour drive my body fueled by 'healthy' chips, dark chocolate and black coffee and my brain occupied by alternately listening to a biography of the Buddha and Darkly Dreaming Dexter.

Sadiebug was there when I arrived, but it was too late for bike showing, so I pre-viewed it to my sister and she was thrilled. Niece and I contented ourselves with other playing. The next day (Saturday) Sadiebug and Sis arrived and we talked about how best to present it. I got my bike and helmet out of the car as sort of bait and then Sadiebug was brought out. She spied my bike right away and ran towards it with a grin crying "bike-le! bike-le" (Don't you love two-year-old lingo?). "Wait, Sadiebug! Look!" My mom called and we brought out the Strider.

Man. If my bike was cool, this was even better. She ran right up to it and was too stunned to even throw a leg over, so we helped her over the bike. Extra-Cute Helmet was installed and then, with mom behind Sadiebug, I demonstrated on my bike what to do. She picked it up pretty quick and then promptly fell over. This scared her a bit and for a moment she had a 'I don't like that thing at all!" look on her face (that scared the bejezus out of me!).

But, all was not lost. Soon she was back on, trucking next door with us to show the neighbor's boy. Then we all stood around their driveway, with Sadiebug and Neighbor Boy alternately riding the Strider (man, did he like that thing. So did his dad and mom, so there might be a Strider-shaped box under the tree...).

Eventually, it started to sprinkle and we went inside and had lunch (Free Food, the other perk of visiting the folks!). Then it was time for Sadiebug's nap. After she was asleep, I hobnobbed with the family and then decided to hit the road. If Sadiebug were awake when I left, there might be A Scene (nothing is so conflicting as seeing a child very sad that she you're leaving).

The update I got when I got home was that when Sadiebug was getting ready to leave, she HAD to wear her helmet and wore it all the way home. Score one for the Weird Uncle! Yay, me!

So, here's the picture. I SWEAR that she was smiling a gigantic grin most of the time. This is us going inside (mom helping), so she was a bit tired.




Also, I've finally updated The List. It's a list of phrases I've heard, mis-heard or, in some cases dreamed. It could alternately be called the Band Name List.

Listening to while posting: "Perfect Crime" by The Decemberists