Distancing Day 25: WHEELS OFF!

I betcha thought from the title of this post that I was going to talk about the crazy just exploding inside this house.

But, no!

(Although, yes, there absolutely is a whole lotta crazy in this house.)

But today, despite the crazy...we managed to power through another really packed day of (school) work and play and everything in between, and the major, major, MAJOR event of the day (The week? The month?) was Chica LEARNING TO RIDE HER BIKE WITHOUT TRAINING WHEELS!

I absolutely adore adore that celebratory pic of my girl, who was so, dang proud of herself for tackling this major childhood milestone. :)

The background on her learning curve:

Years ago (nearly four years, I think?) the hubby and I bought the girlies balance bikes (you know, the kind with no pedals so kiddos can learn to maintain balance, Flinstone-style) and they were quick studies and adored those little bikes, and it was so convenient on our walks because they could be independent while I pushed Little Man in a stroller or carried him in the Bjorn.

So basically, we just let them ride, ride, ride those balance bikes until Chica was literally too tall for hers, and we upgraded her to a larger, traditional bike with training wheels.

And in the nearly two years since that time, we’ve just never been in a rush to push her into removing the training wheels.

First, because she was still building up thigh strength to maintain momentum, even uphill.

Second, because I have three kiddos really close in age and I’m often taking them on walks/bike/scooter rides by myself, and it was just pretty impossible to focus on one child for the duration of time needed to get them trained without the wheels. Without injuring themselves.

And third, because we live in TEXAS. And the prime time for bike riding is during the summer, when we don’t have school and extracurricular commitments that eat up our free time, and it just so happens to be a holy inferno of heat during Texas summers (duh), and simply not conducive to daily sweating to gain the bike confidence.

So...we just let it lie.

And now I can say, unequivocally, that one of the loveliest memories to come out of this quarantined time together will be the gift of this time, during the Spring (even though it was 93 degrees today, ha), to really focus on this challenge and get my girlie riding free!

Because she’s seven, going on eight, I feel like this was kind of like her potty training experience: she was older, so it was a breeze. She literally potty trained in about a day, when she finally agreed to do it. And with her bike, the practice without her training wheels only took two days, and then she was good to go. :)

Woohoo!

The pride was real, her siblings were so supportive, yes, I know her bike is kinda too small for her, but it’s nice that she’s low to the ground for now, and, yes, I know that Chicklet now wants to get going with progressing her bike skills, ha. 



All smiles and good things during this monumental ride.





And when I sent Daddy some video I caught of the moment, he hopped in the car and drove down the street to see it first hand. :) Another beautiful gift of working from home right now.

Look how foggy this pic is from the heat—oye. Man, am I glad the temps are going back down again next week!





So...a big, big day heading into this holiday weekend. Wonderful memories, for sure.

Hope everyone is staying healthy and sane, peeps.

Over and out.