Look Ma, no hands!

I always knew I would hear the above phrase from one of my kids. I was a little surprised to hear it first from my daughter today. Fortunately, she was in a swing - the kind that is really a chair with safety straps.

I was surprised because she's the more cautious one of the two. But caution in relation to Ethan is like saying that a rock climber is cautious compared to a base jumper.

And on that note, Ethan decided this week that it was time for him to ride without training wheels. So he hunted through my dad's tools, found a wrench, took off the training wheels and rode away. Just like that. The next day he decided a 12" was too tame so he took the training wheels off the bigger bike and rode that down the street. Then around the block. Then to the park a mile away (with Erik) like he'd been doing it for years.

So I guess that whole thing about waiting until your kids are ready to do something has some merit.