Reintroducing The Big Tricycle

Bree definitely had a growth spurt. The pants her mum bought her at the start of Winter are now a tad too short. Some of them looked more like cropped pants. Some probably shrunk because they were quite a bit shorter on her than the branded ones. This nanny is guilty of telling Bree’s mum to buy cheaper clothes to wear at home. The cropped length is actually quite versatile for Melbourne’s Spring. And since they still fit around her tummy, her mum is not in a hurry to get her new clothes. She is hoping that Bree will make full use of what she has until her second birthday in November. Bree’s birthday will be a big bash. I was shown the shopping list and Bree will be completely spoilt.

After removing the highchair and then reintroducing the Tripp Trapp chair, Bree’s dad decided to reintroduce the tricycle as well. We thought that it might still be too big but to our surprise, Bree can pretty much pedal it now. She is still not able to rest her feet completely flat on the ground when sitting on the saddle, even though it has been adjusted to the lowest height. Her feet can reach the pedals but she has to stretch out when pedaling. It is also obvious that she needs more practice pedaling because she still doesn’t quite get the need to pedal continuously to continue moving. Her movement was quite rigid at times. Bree’s father doesn’t want her to ride outdoors until after she has learned to pedal quite well indoors. He took away the adult’s push bar saying that he will reattach it when she starts to ride outdoors. He told me that he doesn’t want Bree to get used to being pushed because that is no different to being pushed in the Mountain Buggy. He told me about this baby he sees at the village who is about one year old. The baby gets strapped into this tricycle, legs dangling down the sides while his mum or dad pushes him around. He said that’s pointless and I agreed. Bree and I have seen that baby he was talking about. She actually greeted him once and his mum let her ring the bell on his trike. Parents can be really blinded by the excitement of bringing up a little ‘mini me’. Sometimes they just can’t see that a certain activity is not age appropriate and get totally sucked in by manufacturers.

It turned out that Ettie bought the wrong tricycle. She got the right brand (chosen by Bree’s dad) but the wrong size. Bree’s dad was tempted to get a smaller tricycle but put it off knowing that this one will last longer and another extra tricycle will only take up even more space. I am pretty sure that Bree will be pedaling like a professional by Christmas time. I hope they remember to add a helmet to her long list of birthday presents.