Underage Drivers

This evening the grandchildren once again entertained us with incredible feats. As you know (if you read this blog regularly) we are always on the lookout for new and interesting photo ops. A couple of days ago I tried posing Genevieve on Bentley's ATV. Mark took an okay photo, but nothing exceptional. She looked like she was draped over the handlebars--which she was. (She's only four months old!)

This evening I decided to give the ATV another try. We asked Bentley to pose with the twins on the ATV. He was reluctant at first (he pushed Genevieve off), but then he acquiesced and posed with both Genevieve and Jackson. (Oh, that he had been so cooperative on Sunday during the Christmas photo shoot.)



Then we put Genevieve on the ATV by herself. I posed her and then stepped back (to get out of camera range) and suddenly the ATV started going--she had inadvertently put her forearm on the power button. The ATV doesn't move very fast, so she didn't fall off, but Bentley started shrieking. He doesn't like vehicles that move on their own and I don't think he credited Genevieve with being in control of the ATV--and he was right because she sure wasn't steering. She ran right into Bentley's Fisher-Price Little People Playground which elicited another round of shrieks from him.


I can't remember the last time I laughed so hard. I asked Kara to get her little camera and take a short video. Later this week we will post the video. After Genevieve rode the ATV a few times, we let Jackson have a turn at it.


He paid more attention to where he was going, but wasn't any more capable of steering than she was.

I placed both twins on the ATV at the same time, but the baby in back had a hard time staying on.


After Genevieve and Jackson demonstrated their driving skills, Bentley wowed us all with a new driving skill of his own. He took his little car (nonmotorized) and rode it down the first flight of steps--seven stairs. No joke! I'm not making this up. (I wish I were.) We have no photos, of course, because we were scrambling to get to him. It was a very frightening moment. We all feared that he might have broken his little neck--but, no, he managed to stay on the vehicle all the way down to the landing. (He's very athletic, as we've mentioned a few times.) His nose was a little red like it had smashed into something, but he wasn't upset at all--until his mom took his car away. That made him cry.

Here's a photo of the car he rode down the stairs:


The baby gate at the top of the stairs will be locked ALL THE TIME now. Crazy kid!