our new toy

One of our big realities is that our lives are full of people that come and go, come and go.

This fall we gained a new babysitter, Maja, who was a great fit for our family.  And she came complete with a little sister, Ailah, who quickly became a friend for my girls .  It is such a sweet arrangement because when Maja comes she always brings Ailah.... the boys get a sitter and the girls get a friend, which is a nice compromise for these in-between years when the girls are really growing up but still too young to babysit (in the evenings, and for longer stretches ... they do babysit for shorter afternoon bits of time).

And now Maja and Ailah are leaving.  Ugh.

Maja will be hard to replace, and I'm especially bummed because the "babysitter with little sister" arrangement was working so splendidly.

One silver lining is that Ailah gifted this new toy to our girls.  It's a hover board.  Runs on rechargeable battery.  (and it weighs 25 pounds, which is why it's not going home with Ailah!) Once you get your balance you control the board by leaning.  Lean forward = go forward.  Lean farther = go faster.  It's super sensitive.  The girls say "if you want to turn left just think about turning left, it's like it reads your mind"

They've gotten pretty good, quickly.

but little bro was bummed.  There is a minimum weight to make the hover board work, and he didn't weigh enough.  But what Isaac lacked in body weight he made up for in creativity.

I wish you could have seen the smirk on his face when he marched out of our house, wearing his backpack.  I took one look at his Cheshire Cat grin and knew what he had done - he loaded hand weights in his backpack to make himself heavy enough to ride.

Julianna helped him get on and get started, but he picked it up quick, and now he's off to the races (always with the backpack!)

And the little boys?  Well at the rate they are growing John Paul might make weight for the hover board before Isaac, but we have instituted a firm "no little boys on the hover board, backpack or not" rule.  John Paul is a bit of a danger to himself and others on his bike, the hover board seems like a bit much :)

And Luke, this boy might never leave his balance bike behind.  He zips and zooms circles around the hover-board-ing big siblings, earning shrieks of "Luke, watch out, I'm gonna crash".  What can I say? He fully embraces his little brother role!