Milestones

At New Year's we were talking with E about making a New Year's Resolution. She didn't know what she wanted to accomplish this year, so I suggested learning to ride a bike. She was a little hesitant about committing to this, but cautiously agreed that she would try. It wasn't until June that Ed took off the training wheels, but it only took two times running around the block holding onto her seat before she was able to balance and ride on her own. However, she did not know how to stop and start successfully, so wasn't exactly independent yet. This past weekend Jim (Ed's brother) had the brilliant idea to bring bikes down to the river, and the kids could ride around the track there. It took a few times around, but E learned how to stop and start. She had one spill, but got right back on. When it was time to go home, she was tired, but happy, and so proud of herself! We told her that for every time that she rode around the track 4x, that it was a mile, so we guessed that she probably rode between two and three miles that evening. She was determined to beat that the next day, and excitedly set out after breakfast with her brother and cousins. K was taking a nap, so I didn't go, but Ed reported that she rode continuously for 1 1/2 hours, completing 17 laps!! She was so into biking that she didn't want to stop, but we promised we would be back again.
Meanwhile, N has been begging for a bike for the past year, and we have put off buying him one because we didn't get E's until her 5th birthday. When Jim heard that N was bikeless, he offered him Peter's little Batman bike and N was thrilled. He too, was excited to go ride his new bike, and after adjusting the training wheels, he rode around the track happily with the others. It was really cute to watch him and Erika as they rode around together, in tandem, chatting and just kind of taking their time and enjoying the ride.