We recently had a visit from the handyman (courtesy of some of Grandad's clever pre-Christmas negotiating with Santa) and he built us a fine new path in the backyard. The best thing about the path is that it links up some of our previously disconnected play areas. This has pleased Eli greatly, because it not only means that he doesn't have to wear shoes all the time, but it has also opened up a whole range of new activities for him to enjoy. In fact, to celebrate the new path, Eli has embarked on a trio of new sporting pursuits, namely 1. track sprints, 2. soccer skills training and 3. cycling.
The first new activity was track sprints, where Eli would start at one end of the circuit and 'hot foot it' to the other end. He did this a lot when the path was first laid, to the point that he often got 'all hot and bothered' from running around too much. I've recently learnt that the cure for such a condition is ice blocks, so now I just have to make sure that I have plenty of fruit juice ice blocks ready and waiting in the freezer.
After conquering the track sprints and learning all of the new path's nuances, Eli then embarked on a soccer skills training program. This involved some slick passing between the two of us, at least until the ball went 'out of bounds' whereupon Eli would retrieve it from the garden and start up the passing drill again. Here's a short video showcasing his slick footwork.
Finally, and owing to some recent growth spurts which have enabled Eli to finally reach the peddles on the bike he got from his grandparents last Christmas, he has been testing his riding skills on the new path. He's only being doing this for a short while but he's already getting pretty good - we tend to only have one or two crashes into the rocks each session now...Here's some photos of him looking comfortable on his bike...
...and some footage of him doing a great job until he crashes into me (on purpose). I think we're in for an action-packed summer.
