First bike ride!

Luke is pretty sick. He had a 103 fever when he woke up this morning, and he just seemed to feel awful. But ibuprofen is magic, and after a dose of that, some breakfast, and an hour nap first thing in the morning, he woke up feeling great with no fever at all.

Luckily -- since today turned out to be the warmest, sunniest day we've had in months. A perfect day to wheel out the bike attachment for his fancy convertible stroller! (Jill & I bought it for each other for Christmas this year, and so far we have the attachments that turn it into a jog stroller, a bike trailer, and a regular stroller. We are currently dithering about whether we can really justify the cross-country ski attachment. Anyhow, we had been holding off on using the bike attachment until Luke was sitting sturdily and the weather was nicer.)

So with Luke acting chipper for the time being, we put on his helmet, strapped him into his padded stroller seat, and walked the whole contraption down the driveway to the street. It seemed like a good wholesome activity for a sick baby, since it was almost 70 degrees outdoors: All he has to do is sit there on his comfy padded seat in his plastic bubble pod.

Luke LOVED it! As soon as I started peddling, he burst out giggling behind me. He had been in this very same stroller pod many, many times before for jogging and walking, but something about the bike just tickled his funnybone. Was it the ridiculous sight of dad perched up on this funny bicycle thing? Was it the extra speed (not much -- you can't exactly win a road race with 23 pounds of baby plus a 3-foot pod surrounding him behind you)? Was he just happy to be outdoors and feeling decent after waking up feverish? Who knows, but he loved it.

So we biked around the neighborhood streets and up to the park for a little while, and pretty much every time I looked back at him he would give me a big smile. Especially when we zoomed down the streets with a little bit of an incline to them. He also seemed to get a big kick out of it when a car would pass us, or when we'd bike past a dog or some kids playing on the swings.

When we got back he had some lunch, and he got pretty fussy and feverish again. (Eating seems to bring the fever back on.) But at least we got a little outdoor time in before this quick visit from Spring comes to an end.