Hot Wheels, Baby

I love shopping for Landon. It's like getting to relive my childhood all over again, except with way cooler toys and no big brothers constantly stealing my barbies to serve as "victims." He's at the absolute perfect age where he's out of the touchy-feely infant toys but not big enough to actually care if he gets anything more than the bow on top of the gift. It's like I'm a hero no matter what I do. ("Well, since it IS Christmas, I guess I won't stop you from eating that wrapping paper. No tinsel though. You remember last time.")


The best part about shopping for Landon is the justification. I figure that since he's my first kid, I can buy him anything because it's not spoiling him - it's an investment for all future kids (+ or - s. Haven't decided yet). So a $40 working mini vacuum cleaner for a toddler? A little pricey. But if you factor in the mythical 4 (4!!??) more kids who will play with said vacuum then it's a steal at $8 per kid! How could I NOT get it?


Although I do have to admit that even the coolest toys usually have a cheaper, more practical version that gets the job done just as well, especially at Landon's "is this peanut butter or play doh? Who cares?" age. Take his "big" Christmas present this year, for instance. We want to get him a tricycle. The kid loves anything on wheels and is constantly trying to hijack other kid's rides at the park. On a completely selfish note, this would also majorly cut down on the time it takes us to get places around the neighborhood. We live about 100 yards away from a park yet it still takes almost 30 minutes each way to get there thanks to Landon's ant-sized attention span.


Landon: Mom said we're going to the park. I love the park! The first thing I'm going to do at the park is...Tree!! I see a TREE!! Mama, mama, mama, it's a...woof woof! Did you hear that? I have to find the doggie, I have to...whoa! A tree! Mama, treeeeeeee!!!


Me: Landon, I think we are now farther from the park then when we....ohh, did the neighbors get new curtains?


I digress. 


So I started to do research on toddler bikes and came across quite a range of the three-wheeled contraptions. Metal, aluminum, fiberglass, Handy Manny, Dora, Mickey, green, blue, neon pink. A rainbow of diversity on wheels. But my gaze quickly set up the upper tricycle echelon where I spied this fantastically divine creation:

It's like the Delorean of tricycles. It truly makes you believe that if your little guy pedaled fast enough he could find the rip in the time-space continuum and be sent back to correct some of life's most devastating mistakes. I believe that I would send Landon back to 1995 to prevent my 6th grade self from perming my bangs. (No, Mama! Er, I mean - awkward 12 year-old girl I don't know! Step away from the curlers unless you want to be known as Poodle Girl for all of middle school. And trust me, you don't.)


But, as much as straight bangs and a tip to my teenage self to invest in a little company called "Google" would be great, I decided that the $100 price tag was just a little too much to justify, no matter how many mythical kids I added into the equation. So I settled on this little number:

So it's not a Delorean. But at $40 it is affordable, not unattractive and definitely gets the job of going from point A to B done with all the same laughs and smiles. It's the Honda Accord of trikes. 


I'm excited to show Landon his presents on Christmas morning and watch him light up at everything from the $1 bouncy ball (which he picked out) to the new set of wheels that he'll instantly try to push around the living room. I may even give it a whirl myself. Just to see if that time-continuum thing really works.