Travelingjenny

A few weeks ago, Tess suddenly proclaimed that she was ready to ditch her training wheels and learn to ride a two-wheeler. A declaration like that is typical for this thoughtful, cautious child, who doesn't do anything until she is good and ready. That very morning, she and Grace spent some (unsupervised) time in our gravelly driveway, discussing and working on this new skill. Later that day, we took Grace's old bike over to Nana's house, where the streets are paved and quiet. I spent about half an hour with Tess, holding the bike upright and running alongside, then letting go in a subtle fashion. Tess caught on right away, though her fear of falling kept her from going too far. She stopped while she still felt successful, and we kind of forgot about it for a while. Then today, after school, Tess tearfully told me she really wants to learn to ride a two-wheeler. So off to Nana's we went. And the kid gets it. She can ride all the way down and around the culdesac and can stop nicely. She still needs help getting started, but that's what older sisters are for (well, that and sweet encouragement). We are all very proud of our little chickadee, and she is very proud of herself, too.