A trip to the bowling alley

I had a wild idea that Brian and I should introduce Luke to bowling! There isn't a plethora of activities offered for 2 1/2 year olds - sports here start at age 4 - and it is always nice to get a change of scenery from playgrounds and backyards. I thought Luke would really enjoy it and I thought he was at the age where he can understand the rules and the concept of taking turns. And guess what? He is! After a little excitement induced anxiety at first (excited to see all the bowling balls but wanting to pick them all up and finding that he couldn't), we got his little bowling shoes on and he knew exactly what to do! Brian programmed Luke's turn to have bumpers and Luke and I rehearsed the "rules" 1 more time ("When it is Luke's turn, you pick up the ball and PUSH it down the lane!" We even had the hand gestures for "push!" and he seemed to know what he was getting into). He picked up his 7 pound ball (yes, that was the lightest one they had) and walked right up to the lane. I thought for sure he would keep walking down it or try to chase after the ball but he placed his ball down at the line and pushed. And he stayed there, in squatting position until the ball would hit the pins. It took a few frames before we got the taking turns down pat and he even started to get excited for when Brian bowled - clapping and yelling "yay daddy!". All 3 of us bowled a game together and while Brian and I ate some dinner, Luke bowled his own game. He was pretty sad we had to leave but it wasn't awful trying to get him out of there. We all enjoyed it and Brian was wondering why we hadn't done it earlier. I had to remind him that bowling involves rules, sharing and taking turns and that is something that Luke has been working on for a few months now and has finally mastered. I think if we would have gone earlier it would have been a disaster. We stood there and thought about that for a second and Brian nodded and said "yes, you are right and then we would have never gone bowling again." ;)
I managed to get a little video clip of Luke bowling - and at the end you can see Brian say "give me five!" and Luke says "no!" and runs around him. He had just discovered the amazing ball return thingy and thought Brian was preventing him from watching the ball come back. :) Every time that crazy ball was spit out, Luke's face lit up like Christmas. It's the little things I tell ya! :)