What's a Bike Lock?

I was going to call this post "Thou Shalt Not Steal." Then I thought perhaps I'd be clever and name it using the corresponding number of the commandment in the Bible, but I looked it up and was surprised to find there is debate on the numbers among religious groups - is it 7, or is it 8? And I also found out on Wikipedia (yeah, I know...) that "steal" has been interpreted by some to mean "steal people." Hmm, this I never knew. For what it matters, I have always believed and practiced this to mean "steal anything." Anyway, I have no problem with people interpreting things differently, believing different things, and worrying about numbers and stuff like that, but what it boils down to is that people should just be good. Kids start out so good. As they grow & learn it's up to us to make sure they learn right from wrong, and keep being good...which to me is a pretty scary thing. Now & then I have those moments when I realize I'm doing sort of alright in this regard, and today I had one.

Loic was thrilled this morning to see that the bike trailer is now hooked onto my bike, and he's anxious to go for a ride. As much as he loves to ride his trike, riding together - he on his trike, me on my bike - is tough; if I rode any slower I'd fall off. So, I've been pumping him up to ride in the trailer with Alastair now that he's old enough, so we can venture a little further than around the block and I can actually get a little bit of exercise. I'd already told him we needed to go to the grocery store this morning, so he immediately came up with the perfect plan -- "Mom, let's take the bike & trailer to the grocery store!" I told him that would be fun, but I don't have a bike lock. "What's a bike lock?" he asked. I explained that there's a special place to park bikes and that we can't lock them like we do the car, so we need a special lock to hook them to the bike rack. Then he looks at me quizzically and says, "But mom, any person would be able to see that it's not their bike & trailer, so they wouldn't take it."

Stay good, Loic. Stay so good.

Where in the World?

A few months back Spelling Bees were the big thing in our house, but lately we've moved on to Geography Bees. From Laurence, I must hear 15 times a day, "Mom, ask me questions about where stuff is in the world!" I've actually run out of questions to challenge him, and recently bought a couple of board games that we can play together. I believe I'm learning more than he is.

Clearly Loic has been paying attention and is learning right along with us (me). Want proof? This morning we were eating breakfast and Laurence wanted some strawberries, so he opened the fridge to pull out a quart and said, "Woah! There are 3 containers of strawberries in here!" (We go thru lots of fruit.) Then he says, "Why didn't you just buy one big container - the ones you get at Sam's Club?" I explained that I hadn't been to Sam's recently and he asked why. "Well," I said, "I haven't been over that way in while; it's on the other side of town, and to go just for strawberries seems kind of silly." Then Loic says, "Oh! Then Sam's Club is near China! That's on the other side, too."