Bonus Photo - Easter

The are both smiling.  Both looking at the camera.  Don't know how that happened.

Why didn't I tell her it was so easy?

Two years ago when Kamryn was 5 we took her training wheels off her bike and tried to teach her how to ride without them. She wasn't ready.

Last summer, we took her training wheels off her bike and tried to teach her. She wasn't ready. We put the training wheels back on and waited a few weeks. We tried again. She wasn't ready. Well she was (she could do it), but she refused to admit she was. We put the training wheels back on and waited a few weeks. We tried again. She wasn't ready and my back could take no more.

A few weeks ago I tried and concluded that she must have some sort of inner ear imbalance. I admitted that this was not a reflection on my ability to parent. I admitted that it would be all right if she graduated to one of those adult tricycles in a few years and we left it at that. 

Then last week I watched the neighbour working with his son who's a few months younger than Kamryn.  He didn't run alongside like a crippled hunchback and then let go once his son got going he just gave him a push and off the little guy went. Hmmmm.... This happened to coincide with another neighbour giving us a bike for Sam that didn't have training wheels. It was a bit smaller than Kamryn's bike but not ridiculously small. Yesterday, I insisted Kamryn learn (I was so tired of hearing her complain about how everyone was riding a two-wheeler but her but then refusing to even try).  I gave her the hand-me-down bike. Set her up at the top of our driveway and had her roll to the bottom. By the time she had done that half a dozen times she could ride a two-wheeler. No hunched back. NO miserable middle-aged Mom huffing and puffing down the street. Just an excited happy kid who won't get off her bike now. :)