Happy Friday! This has been a landmark week, friends. What you see above was, until Tuesday, K’s nemesis.
M bought this vintage beauty of a bike from the 1960s off of Craigslist last year in the hopes of teaching his rather…athletically-resistant (except when it comes to swimming) daughter how to finally cycle without training wheels. It never happened. It probably doesn’t help that it weighs about two tons. Love that sparkly banana seat though…
At K’s school, bike-riding is included as mandatory gym curriculum in the second grade, and this has been the stuff of nightmares for the whole summer. With two weeks of vacation left, we had to take action. So on Tuesday, K and I hauled out the dusty bike from the basement, got it adjusted at the local bike repair shop, and found an empty basketball court. It took two hours before she could balance. By the fourth hour, she could coast along with only a few wobbles, and by the fifth hour, we high-fived and called it a day.
She’s been riding her bike every day since and loves it. Embarrassed by her Barbie helmet that M got her last year, but intrepid nonetheless. More than anything, I am so proud of her tenacity. She wouldn’t give up until she got the basics down. She fell over and over, and cried copiously, but she had that “look” in her eye that meant business. It reminded me of this post.
Anyway, with one week to spare, we’ve accomplished a big, big goal. It feels awesome.
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K: Mama, do you ever think about the number of stars in the sky?
Me: Hmmm, yes. Sometimes. There are gazillions.
K: Sheesh, Mommy, there aren’t gazillions of stars. The number is slightly less than that.
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Have a wonderful weekend, all! I have some fun sewing to share with you next week, and we will be practicing bike-riding all weekend long…
It takes great effort
To conquer those long-held fears
When you do: cloud nine
Oh, my persistent, determined little girl!
Hey, I used to have a glittery purply Schwinn exactly like Ks when I was her age! That is SO awesome. My hubby has a love for old bikes so we all have one. I’ll show you sometime. We try to get and ride as much as we can, but it can be tough with everyones schedules. Funny… my oldest, Sophia is ‘athletically resistant’ too! Do you have pictures of K riding the bike? She’s the coolest kid on the block!
Have an beautiful weekend, Sanae!
p.s., What’s less than a gazillion?!
I have no idea what less than a gazillion is, but I loved how she said it with such certainty! Vintage bikes are so amazingly cool – my hubs is way into bikes so he had to get a hipster one for K 🙂 and you read my mind! I’m going to add a photo of K on her bike in a few (I haven’t had my camera with me because I’ve been running along side her in case of wipe outs – I got a quick snap with my iPhone though!)
Yay K! That is awesome! We’ve been working on riding with Em; sometimes she “gets it” and I barely have to hold her seat, but other times she can’t stay upright to save her life. It’s kind of a frustrating process (and a great workout for the parent running along with her) but bike riding is such a freedom, it’s so great once you learn!
SUCH a workout! I’ve been exhausted all week! 🙂 I wish I could bottle each moment that K discovers how to do things on her own – it’s indescribable.
Excellent news K!! That’s funny..I seem to be athletically “challenged” and crummy at all sports except swimming too. I even managed to fall and trip my as I was elegantly stepping off my bicycle one morning. My very sporty husband is afraid our daughter has inherited my “talent” and will never be able to catch a ball or join a sports team. That has led to some enthusiastic daddy-daughter soccer, catch and handball playing in our living room, despite my no-ball-playing- in-the-house rule. Oh well. Ironically, I ended up becoming a surgeon treating all the injuries those sporty people sustain.
Oh Laney, I love the part where you wrote “as I was elegantly stepping off my bicycle” – that made me laugh! Athletically challenged or no, you’ve clearly got the focus of an Olympian to be a surgeon – however do you find the time to sew?
Your blog makes me happy!
🙂 and your comments make me happy!
Congratulations, Miss K!! That is a supreme accomplishment, and great job in sticking with it. You should be proud!
That she is, Lucinda! She’s been telling anyone who’ll listen about her newly acquired skill. Getting a less “baby” helmet is now high on the priority list – she saw this post and said, “Mommy! The whole world knows that I have a Barbie helmet?? Oh nooooooooo”. I reminded her that only three people read my blog 🙂
Brilliant! Well done K, this is your licence to freedom as a kid! (and if you keep it up the bicycle will ALWAYS be your friend in life!) We love bicycles at our house and I well remember that awesome feeling of learning to ride as a kid. Congratulations again.
Love the comment about the helmet! take a look at Nutcase helmets as they make some adorable designs.
Nutcase! Love the name! We’ll definitely check that out – K just conquered going downhill using the awkward pedal brakes so there’s been a flood of excitement in the household – bike-riding is the best!
that’s huge! such an exciting milestone, as all of there are…but there’s something big about this one. congratulations!!!
I know, right? We did the victory dance together when she first got the balancing part! 🙂