ebay for birthdays

Happily, we won the ebay auction for a Fisher Price Smart Cycle last night. It was an item for local pickup, located in north Birmingham, so we went during David's break (he worked a split shift today) to go and fetch it. Dennis has been asking me for an exercise bicycle for his birthday, and I knew that I wanted him to have one once we convert our garage into an exercise room, but other projects keep popping up and we have delayed that project for a few months. Fisher Price Smart Cycles are not cheap by any means, so to be able to find one for $22.50 that's in great shape delighted all of us, most especially Dennis who spied it in the back of the seller's truck as we met at a gas station off their interstate exit. He got out of the van and walked around to the back and jumped up and down repeatedly as we loaded it. Then he climbed in the back of the van and climbed on the bike and began pedaling. So much for saving it as a surprise!

We stopped to visit Uncle Denny on our way south and Dennis was beyond wild (and desperately in need of a nap) and was so excited about his new stationary bike that he could barely keep it together for the visit, at least until the phlebotomist came in to take some blood from Uncle Denny. Dennis watched this process in total fascination and scored his own tourniquet and strip of tape so that he can practice taking some of Mommy's blood later. Yippee. I do love that the hospital staff has all taken the time to talk to Dennis and teach him about what's going on in there. He told Thomas (the lab tech) that the patient was his Uncle Denny Meeker, insisting on using his full name.

It was difficult to get Dennis in bed for his nap since there was a new toy here, but he did indeed go to sleep. We had to go and pick David up from work, and I went in to wake Dennis, expecting some whining for doing so. I scooped him up gently and he blinked his eyes open at me. He said "is it time to go get batteries for my bike?" I told him we needed to go pick up his Daddy and he said "yes, Daddy knows batteries" and then ran around to gather his clothes and shoes. We were about to head out the door when he discovered that the batteries in the bike had a little juice left in them. He said "look, Mommy, the light comes on!". We plugged it into the television and he played a couple of collect-the-letter races where he has to steer the bike into letters on a track on the TV screen. He would yell "gotcha" and then say "look, Mommy, I got a 'c'". So it actually is teaching him something; two things, I guess--how important it is to exercise as well as his letters, numbers, shapes, and colors. He played on it again when we all got home, and he discovered the game where a frog catches flies with letters on them that spell out words. He likes to make the frog get the wrong letter so that the frog makes a funny face and sticks out his tongue. This makes Dennis laugh hysterically and he hasn't figured out that it makes the game end quicker when you pick the wrong letters.

Yes, he loves his birthday present. Luckily I have another little something to save for Sunday... I rationalized this all by knowing that he'll be able to pay more attention to all his new presents since he has gotten his bike a little early. Makes me feel better anyway.