Hands on!

Theo has always been a child who needs to touch, to move, to connect.  Every single dinner ends with Theo swallowing his last bite, pushing his plate back, looking for the nearest parent, thowing open his arms and saying, 'Snuggle?'.  This is adorable in the winter, but when it's 92 degrees and there's no breeze, I'm not such a fan.  Although he is hard to resist.  I usually have to make him wash up first because eating for Theo is a very hand's on experience.  He likes to feel that food- a fork is way too much separation between his touchy greedy little fingers and the wonderful textures of the offerings on his dinner plate.  But he does wash up real well. 

What I've noticed this year, as Theo ventures out more often on his bike, is that this touching moving feeling thing doesn't translate so well to biking under his own power.  He does firmly plant his hands on his handle bars and keeps them there, but something must be just vibrating through his nervous system as he rides.  Every thing he sees, or feels, or thinks, seems to translate into a movement in his arms, which are, of course, connected to his handle bars, which steer his bike.  So his trip down to the end of the block is nowhere near a straight line.  He is veering left and right and sometimes swings right back around the way he came.  All of this movement seems to go unnoticed by him, but for the parent behind him it's nervewracking.  The other day when we rode to the DQ I was sure he was going to plow into several parked cars, but luckily his most violent swings seemed to line up with empty road, or better yet, vacant alleyways.  One time we were riding along to the south when all of the sudden he jerked to the left and was 10 feet down an alley before he came to a stop.  I called out, 'What's up?' and he answered, "I don't know!  My armpit itched!  I seem to have itchy armpit disease!"  Then he laughed, turned around and headed back my way.  Sort of.  I've really never seen anything quite like it.  But here's the key- it doesn't seem to bother him so much.  He teeters this way and that, careening down the road with a grin.  And it does seem that maybe, just maybe, the veering is settling down a little the more he rides.  I just hope that he gets this under control before he is behind the wheel of a real live automobile, or we are going to have to find ourselves some seriously good insurance.