She can do it!

Finally my Bird can ride her bike.  If you remember she got a new bike *last year* for her birthday....her birthday this year is less than 20 days away...and she can *finally* ride her bike *unassisted*.

It was a rainy fall and winter so there weren't many bike riding opps. We did take her out last year to learn & there were many tears shed....we tried the towel method, rolling down a hill method, on the grass method & the traditional run-beside-while-holding-the-bike-up-method. Once she thought she had it--she figured she didn't need to ride it anymore that day...or the next 11 months?

Last week, the weather was gorgeous & I was outside working in the garden (please grow, please grow, please grow!) & naturally the ktbunch followed but not to help in the garden...First oldest and Sammy did some bike tune-upping and filled their tires w/ air.....the next day they got my bike tires filled with air and Bird's--hey everything seems to be a *process* in this home. 

Bird must've been feeling inspired and decided to work on riding her bike again. Sammy ran next to her for a few tries but tired quickly. I finally told him to just leave her alone & let her do it on her own--at her own pace.  There were some minor falls, accompanied by tears. I was busy in the garden & knew it wasn't serious so I wasn't about to subject myself to that 'run-along-side' frustration! ha!

I reminded her she was ok & that I knew she could do it so keep at it. Well it wasn't long before she was proud of her defying-gravity-10-seconds-at-a-time-achievements! That was enough to keep her going and wanting more. She was so proud to tell me how she made it across the drive way with out falling. Then how she made it across the short end of the block....now if we could get her to steer and turn properly! That girl!

Eventually she figured out how to pedal and steer at the same time. Thank goodness. She's been out there nearly every day since.

I'm hoping to have *all* our bikes working and ride ready @ the same time...hasn't happened yet. Sammy's tire was flat and the inner tube needed to be replaced.  I got a new one & it busted a hole as Ern was putting the air in it!?! arg. They patched it & thought it was sufficient but I guess not because it's still leaking air.  I'll get a new inner tube tomorrow and hopefully it will be good enough.

The hubs and I took an hour long bike ride this morning. The weather was so mild, it was perfect.  We rode to the school--something I've wanted to do for awhile now to see how long it would take me.  It wasn't that long--about 35 minutes. (one way) Totally doable on a regular basis, I imagine....so I'm thinking I can ride my bike to school next semester until it rains....here's hoping...I am easily swayed to be lazy these days. ;-)