I should, but I can't believe it!

This afternoon as I was working on my neverending list of chores, I realized this was too beautiful of a day to pass up spending some quality time with my children outside. I wasn't sure what to do since we had already been to the park various times this week and I wanted to do more than go on a walk and then it hit me. "I know, I'll teach them how to ride their bikes without training wheels!" I felt it was a slightly overly ambitious task, but figured it had to be attempted sometime and why not now at the beginning of the summer. One of my favorite things to do is to enjoy the beautiful weather on a Sunday afternoon and I am so excited for the day when I can go on a leisure bike ride with those in my family who will choose to join me. Therefore, I was pumped to get Halen and Harris riding their bikes without training wheels.

I decided to start with Halen, since she's the oldest, and took off her training wheels first. We took a trip down the street, past a few houses, and then returned with me holding onto the handle bar as well as the back of her seat. She struggles with a huge fear complex. She's afraid of anything and everything!

Then it was Harris' turn so we took off his training wheels. He was crazy all over the place the first time, but definitely didn't lack confidence, desire, and ambition. This is one thing that in the past has been a frequent complant of mine; Harris never stops to think to ask permission before he heads into whatever task he so desires to accomplish. I am constantly finding him getting into things and food without asking. He just thinks to himself, "I want to do ...." and then he does. Although it is usually a complaint of mine, in this particular instance it was an amazing advantage.

I then spent the next 30-45 minutes alternating turns with Halen and Harris running along side them down the street and back. Halen tired easy because of her constant necessity to talk her out of her great fear. She was actually very close to riding on her own, but I promised I wouldn't let go, so she hadn't actually done it alone just yet. Harris, on the other hand, after only receiving help approximately 6 times down the block, decided to just go for it as I was getting ready to run Halen down the street for the last time. Dave had joined us at this point and yelled, "Honey, Honey, look!" His tone was so stressed and amazed that I was scared I was about to run somebody over, but turned around to see Harris taking off on his own down our driveway and into the street without any help or training wheels! We cheered loudly when he stopped and he beemed from ear to ear! I was so shocked, but when I stopped to think about it, I shouldn't have been! This was just right up to par with his personality style. He then spent the next 30 minutes riding down the driveway and then peddling on his own in front of our home. We were so thrilled!

Halen saw this as motivation and although slightly jealous and embarrassed that Harris was already riding on his own, decided to try a few more times for good measure! The cutest part was how she would verbalize to herself, "I can do this!" and "Balance!" as she was riding. I had made her repeat these phrases before she began each practice run!

What a beautiful afternoon and a great beginning to Spring and Summer!