Bike Ride

Holy cow! This girl's a rock star!

We were going to meet some friends at the park this afternoon and Alice decided she would like to ride her bike instead of taking the car. I suppose it had something to do with getting out of "quiet time" earlier...or something ;) Anyway, I was delighted she chose to bike and excitedly curious to see what this girl could do.

Alice hopped on her balance bike, Robert climbed into the trailer, and away we went. We rode and rode and rode. Alice took the lead. We only stopped a couple times for a few seconds to check out "cool" stuff like brightly colored fungus, candy bar wrappers, and broken nut shells. I kid you not, she rode 2 miles to the park. 2 miles! She stopped at every intersection, slowed/paused at every driveway to make sure no cars were coming, and literally made that trip one of the most enjoyable bike rides I've had in a long time. I credit the balance bike for this trip (it's so easy to ride! so easy to control! I heard they make smaller ones for kids as young as 18 months and I'm seriously considering it for Robert's Christmas gift. Seriously.)

Then we played with our friends at the park. I could tell she was tired because she opted for the swing and merry-go-round instead of the climbing features :) Robert had no problem climbing as high and fast as he could. They enjoyed the teeter-totter together quite a bit, too.

(Side note: As Robert gets more capable, more gentle, and more familiar with Alice's play preferences, they're turning into quite the playmates. I can tell that Alice actually wants to play with Robert. It's been a long, hard road figuring out activities and boundaries/rules they can agree on, but it's starting to work better. I love this.)

When our time was done, she got back on her bike and led us all the way home again. The ride home was much longer, punctuated with water and snack breaks every couple of minutes. Strands of hair tickled and stuck to her sweaty face, so she stopped pretty often to scratch, too. I didn't mind the frequent stops, considering what she was accomplishing. I just couldn't believe it. She rode 4 miles round trip...happily. On a good stretch of gradual downgrade, she could balance/coast up to 15 seconds. Well on her way to free riding with pedals. Oh, the places we'll go!

Let's see how sore she is tomorrow.
Let's see how long it is before she asks to ride her bike again.
Let's see how long I can keep up with this girl :)