Even though it’s been a long, long time since I had a loose tooth, every time he would show me just how loose his tooth was I could remember just what it felt like. It gave me the creeps.

But you have to admit, he looks awful cute… missing tooth and all.

He is looking forward to a visit from the Tooth Fairy. Did you know that even the Tooth Fairy is affected by inflation. The going rate for a front tooth these days has risen up to $5.00! Poor Tooth Fairy.

This time he suited up in his professional rain gear which consists of a Spiderman rain poncho, sweatpants, and knee high rubber boots. He was dressed for boating success.

He did stop to ask, “Mama…I look ok right?”. I didn’t have the heart to tell him otherwise so my answer was “Of course you do”. Off he went.

At first all he could do was stay up for a few seconds. Those seconds turned into a few pedals worth of time but he couldn’t steer and would crash into things. Those few pedal revolutions turned into being able to not only stay up for a long period of time but Jakob could also steer out of the way of things like…telephone poles.

Today was a very monumental day. Not only is he riding his bike like a pro but he managed to pedal his way up a large hill in the neighborhood and had no fear at all about flying down the other side…with his mother chasing after him.

Jake and I have been taking our morning walk for about 2 weeks now. To explain more clearly, I walk and Jake rides his bike. He’s a great motivation to keep me going since he is always a ways ahead of me and I’m usually trying to catch up.

We have been making our way all over our neighborhood over the past couple of weeks but we have been avoiding “Jef Hill” (spooky music here) which is a pretty big hill for someone just starting to walk again or for someone that has never ridden their bike up or down a hill in his short life.

Today we both decided that it was time to go up “Jef Hill” (spooky music here). We set out and Jake was kind of nervous about the idea of going down the hill on his bike.

We got to the hill and this little bugger rode right up it. He only needed one little push from me near the top. Then at the top…he saw the down side of the hill.

While I started to explain to him about the fact that his bike has breaks and he could slow down if he wanted…he took off. Down the hill he went. Flying and laughing the whole time. At the end of the hill he slammed on the breaks and pulled a Dukes of Hazard sideways skid.

He was so impressed by himself he had to take one more shot at it before we moved on. So up the hill he peddled again and down he came. Laughing the whole way.

This morning the hills were alive with the sound of…Jakob.

Whenever Jake is off playing by himself you can be sure that it involves something to do with pirates. He could be on his pirate ship in the middle of the ocean (a pillow in the middle of the dining room floor) or he could be shooting cannons from the top deck of his pirate ship (also known as his top bunk).

My favorite is when I walk in a room to find Jake wearing his eye patch and handkerchief using his compass to search for his buried treasure. You see instead of giving him loads of candy this Easter, the Easter Bunny finally came to his senses and gave Jakob a Pirate’s of the Caribbean play set.

Today we worked on turning the top bunk of his bed into a pirate ship. He has a steering wheel, sails, a cannon and even a crow’s nest for his stuffed animal look out. He’s going to keep himself busy with this for a while I’m sure.

Jake’s new Mohawk matches his personality a little more closely than his “little boys” haircut. We went to the food store yesterday and a lot of people felt compelled to comment on his new “do”. Jake being Jake just smiled and said thank you each time someone commented on it.

Today was his first day back to school with his new haircut but he didn’t want me to make his Mohawk stick up. I guess he wants to keep his look a little more laid back for school. Understandable.

I’ve been asked the question “why would you let your five year old get a mohawk?”. My answer: “You’re only young once… so why not!”