Rose learned to ride a bike!

It feels like it's been a long time coming, and I really didn't know how we were going to get from here to there. She's had a big girl bike with training wheels for years now. We put our bike enthusiast friend, Darrel, in charge of teaching her, but she was too nervous to try. Then the weather has been rotten or Darrel out-of-town.

We were hanging out at the park with school friends and their six year old who had just learned to ride. The mom told me she just put her son on the baseball field, the one right there behind us, and let him practice pushing off. He had it in minutes.

So, we borrowed the son's bike and helmet and gave it a try. Because the bike was so short on Rose, she was completely relaxed. She didn't go anywhere, but she wasn't scared.

After lunch, I took my nap while John took the training wheels off and ran behind Rose on the sidewalk, holding the bike's balance. I remember my Dad and Uncle Michael taking turns running behind me.

Then John went for his nap, and we went back to the park. In literally three tries, Rose was riding around the baseball field. I just held the bike steady for the first few seconds and off she went. It was a miracle. I just couldn't believe she was doing it. I yelled and screamed and went chasing after her. I think everyone in the park knew it was her first time riding a bike. She can turn. She can stop. She hasn't got the start down yet, but she's heading back to the park this afternoon.

I don't think this is all about Rose. Seeing her skate, fall, bonk, get scared, get back up showed me that getting hurt isn't the end of the world and made me feel braver about supervising the bike attempt. Of course, the ice skating and roller skating successes have made her braver too.