unbirthdays

We were planning to get Nate a bicycle for his 3rd birthday. I thought a tricycle would be more suitable for his abilities, but all the trikes here were 100% hard plastic, really bad quality, and expensive. There are acceptable quality tiny bikes with training wheels, so we decided it would be best to go straight to that.

Nate had his birthday in TX. We gave him some small toys and books so that he would get birthday presents from us. Once we got back, we decided to wait until the end of the school term to get his bike. It was too hot to ride in February, and he would have more time to enjoy/learn to ride the bike during school break anyway.

Then, we ended up moving during school break, and there is no pavement around our new house, just soft sand (oh, the troubles of living 500 yards from the ocean). We had already waited months after his birthday, what was a little longer?

We debated when to get the bike, or if we should put it off until we moved somewhere with at least hard, flat ground for him to learn. Then also was the problem of Ben. If Nate was riding a bike, we wanted to get Ben something to ride for his birthday, too, but the trikes are horrible and the ride-on cars are even worse.

Then today, we saw these babies at Tuskys:

Aluminum frames. Sturdy wheels/tires. Good quality grips. Comfy seat! Only 2 in the store, and they won't restock. They're like Big Lots. They get what they get, and when it's gone, that's it.

In Texas, we could choose from a wide variety of products, in many price points and varying degrees of quality. We could determine which product we wanted and buy it at an appropriate time. In Kenya, when we see something like this, which has been on our "fat chance we'll find it here" wishlist for months, we buy it right away!

Ben's birthday is 7 weeks away. Nate's birthday was over 6 months ago. A very merry unbirthday to them!