Thursday, July 29, 2010

Baby on wheels

Dad had given me his bicycle shortly after Jolie was born, but I hardly had the chance the ride it, so I kept it in the spare room all this while, collecting dust. Lately I felt that Jolie should be big enough to ride together with me, so we shopped around for a child seat for the bike. Dad found this Japanese child seat which was really sturdy and looked pretty quality, so now baby and I can go on bicycle rides together!



Naturally, my little monkey fell in love with it immediately and can't wait to go for a ride.



It rained the WHOLE DAY the next day, so we had to post-phone the maiden voyage to the next day. The next afternoon, after her nap, we gave it a try. I rode VERY slowly, getting accustomed to the extra weight of Jolie sitting in front of me. Thankfully, Jolie sat quite still during the ride, so it was quite enjoyable as we rode to a playground much further away.

I was feeling so confident about that on the very next day, I strapped Jolie on the bike and rode all the way to Mom's place. Some parts of the pedestrian road was a little bumpy, but other than that, it was very fun and enjoyable! It wasn't very sunny, I could even point out interesting things to Jolie along the way, like a Kingfisher bird, colourful flags, trees and flowers. We even said hi to a little girl wearing the same shoes as Jolie while waiting at the traffic junction.

I was surprised that I wasn't sweating much along the way. But only when we've arrived at my Mom's place did the sweat started to pour out from every pore on my body! What a good workout! Best of all, what a great way to travel! No more waiting time and no more changing of buses! By car, 10mins. By bus, 20-30mins. By bicycle, 15mins!

Jolie servicing the bike at my Mom's place...




When Jolie was taking her nap, I rode the bike back home by myself. Once again, I was disoriented as the bike was suddenly much lighter without Jolie. So I found myself riding much faster, until I decided that I wasn't in a hurry to go anywhere, so I slowed down and enjoyed a leisurely ride home.

Only when I got home did I remember that Dad wanted to cycle Jolie to the new park nearby after her nap. Oops! Nevermind, next week we'll cycle over to Mom's place again. Now my "circle" has been expanded. I can bring Jolie further away from our home during the day and still make it back home before dinner. What a liberating feeling!

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