Not a baby anymore

On Sunday morning the Big Fella went for a quick drive up the highway to see if there was a shoot on.  He loves shooting clay targets, particularly in skeet (a specific set-up and combination of target releases) and was a bit excited when he discovered that it was on.

When he got back he asked if the Little Big Fella and I would like to come out to the range with him and we decided that we would.  After a quick run around getting our things together we headed off.

The Little Big Fella has been around the Big Fella and his guns for as long as he can remember I guess, and the Big Fella has already told him that some of the guns in the safe will be his when he's older.  Unsurprisingly, when asked if he'd like to shoot a clay target, the Little Big Fella was rather excited!

Father and son walked out onto the range before everyone was ready for the skeet rounds.  They set up a clay target, sitting against the tufty grass then walked back five or ten metres.  Daddy knelt on the ground and held the shotgun up and the Little Big Fella pulled the trigger for the first time ever.  Do you think he enjoyed it???

My little boy isn't so little these days!

The other day his bike got a flat tyre so the Big Fella patched it up for him.  To do that, he had to take the training wheels off the bike and when he was putting it back together today, he asked the Little Big Fella if he wanted the training wheels back on.  Amazingly the Little Big Fella said no!  So, the bike went back together without training wheels.

I've been watching the Little Big Fella riding lately and noticed that he rarely used the training wheels.  They were mostly a stabiliser for him to get started, and even then they were a bit more of a hindrance than a help.  Well, my "little" 3 year old took off like he'd been riding without training wheels all his life!!!  Especially for his grandparents, I took some video :-)  I've edited it so that it's not so boring ;-)

It all makes me teary, I'm so proud!

I took him to the park to have a bit more space to ride and practice.  As expected, he fell off and grazed his elbow.  After a bit of a hug, he wiped his tears away and went at it again.  Unfortunately his tyre went flat again so he had to stop riding.  This caused way more tears than his fall!!!  Pretty much all the way home!!!  Turns out, the skids he's learned to do have taken off all the rubber on his tyre so the tube had nothing to protect it.  The Big Fella is so proud that this is the cause :-D  Can't say I'm too upset about it either ;-)

To cheer him up we got his little 50cc motorbike out and went for a ride up the hill and back.  It worked a treat and was awesome fun too!!!

Have I mentioned that I'm enjoying this "living in the country" thing?

This evening the Little Big Fella decided he wanted to "write" and he accidentally did a figure that looked a bit like a D.  I've been showing him the letter D over the past few months (his name starts with D) so I got all over excited, "Oh look!  You did a D!!!  Awesome work!" etc.  Then we did some more, just to push the point :-)

He's just not a baby anymore, and it won't be long before he's not a little boy either.  And I'm not sad about it at all.  I love watching him grow and learn and discover!  A good friend of ours used to say that his boys got more interesting the older they got, and I can totally see what he meant.  If the Little Big Fella is only 3, imagine what else is in store!!!