Biking

For most of the school year, I have been running twice a week with my friend Sarah. It has been such a great time to exercise and get to be friends with Sarah, and to feel like a "runner" for the first time in my life. Or at least a "jogger". The very idea of running a few miles doesn't strike fear into my heart, which is a big deal. The big girls would be at school and Annea would be in the stroller, happily being strolled around and around the Redwood Loop. Until she decided she had enough and freaked out at the mention of the woods. Enter the iPad, with a few kid's movies on it. That worked for months. Until it didn't work, and then... I promised her bike riding time after I ran. She fits the little balance bike we had for Eliana. So far she has not learned to glide, or even to sit her butt down on the seat, so it's a lot of walking her bike around while wearing a helmet. But there's hope, and we're going to keep working on it.

Ready to go!

Snuggling with her bike. She loves carrying it, dragging it around, and sitting on it. The gliding hasn't happened so much, but it will come!

As for the big girls...we did some disservices to our girls in the bike riding department. I feel really good about some of my parenting skills. Like potty training. I feel like if you gave me a kid between 2-4 years old, I could potty train him/her in a weekend. I got that one. Bike riding, however, I would happily have outsourced. We didn't get a strider bike (balance bike) for Adessa, but did for Eliana, so when we went to teach them, Eliana got it much faster than Adessa. She already had the balance thing down. So Adessa (understandably!) got more and more frustrated as she watched Eliana zooming by her. It was difficult to try to encourage Eliana (She's riding a bike!! Hooray!!) while not totally demoralizing Adessa. Difficult. We learned to divide and conquer, and Adessa is getting it after a few sessions with Daddy.


The future bike gang.

During Annea's eight minutes of biking. Now I bring the stroller for Annea and jog along with Eliana while Calvin works with Adessa.

Eliana going for it.

Daddy helping Adessa get started.

Adessa riding! Daddy keeping his post right by her side.

Eliana, again. She is a funny rider, which I guess they all must be at the beginning. She puts her feet down to brake, she goes wherever she is looking (followed a lizard right off the road), and tries to turn too tight. This ride she had her first spills, which gave her the idea of how to fall off.