Shake, Rattle and Roll

As wonderful as Heather is, there is one little, tiny thing that separates us… Keeps us from being truly united (Well, I could probably name a few, but for this purpose and to keep from being beaten, we’ll just go with this one thing). What could it be? What could be this one thing that tears us apart? Roller coasters.

You see I LOVE roller coasters. Can’t get enough of them. The faster, windier, loopier the better. Heather on the other hand… not so much. She’s a fan of keeping her feet on the ground.

So, I know that as Finley gets older and the fact that theme parks are in our near future, I have some training to do. That’s right. Either I start getting Finley ready for thrill rides or I’ll be going solo.

To that extent, I have slowly been introducing Finley to the elements of speed, turbulence and g-forces…. As safely as possible, of course. And since we don’t have quite the training facility that NASA has, I have to use the tools available to simulate a ride. In fact, the closest thing to simulating everything NASA has can be found on the local playground.

You’ve got your g-force simulator in the merry-go-round, re-entry simulation in the slide and an acceleration simulator on the swings. The swings just happen to be Finley’s favorite. She loves getting as high as she can and zooming through the air with the wind in her face. She could swing all day, if she had the choice. So, now that we’re getting her used to the height and the speed, it’s time to introduce a little turbulence.

This past weekend, we hooked up the kid bike trailer and went for a little 11-mile jaunt on the Burke-Gilman bike trail, here on the east side. I have to say that despite my best efforts, it was a bit bumpy, but Finley took it in stride and was even able to sneak in a nap during the trip. She’s not a big fan of the helmet, but like anything, the more we do it, the more she’ll get used to it.

So, now my little astronaut is on her way to finding the seat next to mine on a roller coaster in just a few years. But there might actually be a downside to creating all this courage in the little one.

Every once in a while we’ll find her climbing on her toys and standing to balance without using her hands. Sometimes she’ll find her way to the top of the coffee table or flip herself over her little couch. Sometimes she’ll climb into her toy bins. And none of these compare with the nightly acrobats she performs in her crib. But more recently, her little daring dos wind up giving her a few bumps and bruises.

Just like a typical toddler, she’ll find her way to smack her head into a table leg or fall over during one of her couch vaults. In fact at daycare today, she was trying to ride a tricycle – her feet can’t even touch the ground when she sits on it – when she took a bit of a tumble and scratched her face.

But, as I’ve always said, these are just the first of many scrapes and tumbles to come. I know that Heather and I have many days ahead of us of boo-boos, band-aids and bruises. I know there will be heads to rub and fingers to kiss better. But, to borrow from a recent film, “we fall so we can learn to pick ourselves up.”

So, hopefully, after every time she bonks her head or scrapes her knee, Finley will learn to avoid the things that get her hurt. Well, the more obvious things, anyway. Because as much as we want to, Momma and Poppa won’t always be there to kiss it better. She’ll have to learn to dust herself off and keep going, no matter how tough it may seem. At the very least, I can cheer her up with a fun ride on a roller coaster!