April is already but a memory as the summer quickly approaches. Jada and I continued our drive towards our cycling goal with several more rides including the Monster Cookie ride bringing us to 280 miles on the year so far. We kicked some fanny on the ride in the first half as we dragged several of the more die hard riders into the rest stops with us at nearly 20 mph. At one point we were dragging at least 4 other cyclists, perhaps more on and off. People on single bikes love to draft tandems. After the mid break, we didn't see too many other riders, but the weather was dry for a change. We had a good time.
As for our girls, well they are coming along too. Ellen had what teachers call the "March miracle". It's the term used when students suddenly "get it" around March and start reading everything that they get their eyes on. She is reading any and everything she sees now. Signs, ads, toothpaste tubes, and most importantly, books. She takes any book she has and reads to Phoebe or reads to herself. She started with Dr. Seuss, and she has progressed to the early readers. We can't stop her. We can't even hope to slow her down. She's also already beginning her political involvement as Jada took her canvassing for the Senate and Representative races here in Oregon. Finally, as if we needed a reminder that she's getting older, we attended Ellen's kindergarten Round-up to get information on her new school. Well, I attended. Jada had to present since she currently works there.
Our little Phoebe has made huge strides as well. She likes count (actually "singed it") before bed time, and she can go to 20 and beyond if you let her. She can also write her own name so that it can be read by other people. She has such good fine motor skills. She's quite the artist, well they both are really. She's been able to spell her name out loud for quite some time now. She loves school and is pretty popular from what we understand. How can she not be? She still cracks us up with all of her faces. Finally, Phoebe is completely out of pull-ups now. She made it all but 2 days without an accident, and even those weren't during the night.
The birthday parties continued this month, but they are slowing down - only 2 this month. One was a dance party with streamers and tiaras. The other was a princess party. I didn't make it to that one, but from what I understand it was quite the event. Ellen lost her cool when it was time to go which was disappointing, but the hostess didn't seem to hold it against her at least. Jada was away for the last weekend of the month for a conference so the girls had a daddy weekend. We had the typical bachelor dad dinner - pizza. After shopping on Saturday morning, we decided to save on gas money and do our library errand by bike. Ellen really can't fit into the trailer any more. I had to recline the seat so she could fit in there. It ended up being a very nice morning, and the girls didn't fight at all even though they were shoe-horned into the thing. So on the way home, we stopped off at a grade school playground before lunch. It's a good thing we did too since during nap, it started to rain really hard. I continued the bachelor dad dinners by grilling hot dogs in the rain with beans and carrots. We were all happy when mommy came home.
There were some visits with friends along the way that the girls enjoyed too. Until next month.
Journal entry: May 2, 2006