Bike Ride

Eva has accomplished what she set out to do. That is to say, she has learned to peddle her bike! It was a battle at first. She tried, but didn't succeed as quickly as she would have liked and wanted to give up. I had to give her a little kick in the pants (quite literally) to get her over the stoop. Once she took her bike outside with a little not so gentle prodding (see kick in the pants), she fared much better and began to enjoy the rhythmic pattern.

That was on a Tuesday ( I think.) The next day, she begged to go on a bike ride "away from the house." So we did. A long, long way away from the house. We rode from our house to the park, about 3/4 of a mile away. She needed a few more of those kicks to make it up the hill, but she persisted! And she made it.


We played at the park for about 10 minutes, before I was frozen and begging to leave. Finally, after what seemed like a year in a freezer, she agreed to go to the dollar store. It seemed like it was a good short distance from the park. I could actually see it from the sidewalk bordering the park. It would have been perfect if I hadn't decided we should go to the mall instead so we could buy Jeff the last piece of his birthday present. Tack on another 1/2 mile for the little wheeler.


The mall was warm! I was very happy about this! Eva was happy that the store we needed to go to was just across from Aunt Annie's pretzels where we bought pretzel sticks and lemonade. Even better was the indoor playground that sat just a bit further down, creating her own personal Triangle of Heaven. Having finished snack, she climbed, jumped, and ran around the play area.


I prodded her to go because it was surprisingly late and I was going to be late for my appointment. I volunteered to take pictures of the graduating 4 year olds in their caps and gowns at the preschool. Aboard her bike again, she peddled to the preschool, about another 1/2 mile away. It was a bit warmer... or maybe I was a bit less frozen.... so the walk/ride was more enjoyable.


I took the pictures in 15 minutes. Offering to let Eva join lunch bunch, I was disappointed when she declined in favor of riding her bike back home.I didn't know how she was going to make it. She had already ridden her bike nearly 1 and 3/4 miles for her first outing. Assuming I would be carrying her and her bike a good deal of the distance, we left the preschool side-by-side. 


She made it all but 3 blocks from home. I carried her bike and required her to walk the rest of the distance. Her legs were so tired, she walked as if they were made of jello. I know this feeling from initial workouts or difficult coaching sessions after some time off. She couldn't stop tripping over her own feet. After less than half a block, I found myself carrying her, the bike, my purse, and my 50 pound camera. (My camera doesn't weigh that much, but it felt like it did by the time we made it home.)


Things were relatively good for the next half block. A block from home, my arms felt like they were going to break and it began to rain. Ugh! But we survived and she slept really well that night. I would have too if I had her short legs and peddled almost 3 miles on my first time on the sidewalks of the city!