Monday, July 11, 2005

Built for two

Tonight was a nice time with the kids.

Tegan was playing softball so I was corralling the girls. We had some leftovers for dinner and they played for a bit. Then we went outside for a walk down the block to see the creek that runs under one of the neighborhood streets. Every once in a while I take the girls over there to peer down at the water. Once we saw a snake swimming through the water and so from now on every time we go we hope to see the snake again. Ruth was even calling out "Snake! SNAKE!" hoping that it would suddenly appear, but no dice.

Once we got back to the house, Ariel wanted to practice riding her bike. (Tomorrow is Bike Day at her daycare. What does that mean? I don't know, but all the four-year-olds can bring their bike to school.)

Now, Ariel hasn't had much bike time in her young life. She has tried a bit, but with little success. But she was fairly determined tonight. She was successfully pedaling up and down the sidewalk in front of our house. When she hit the areas where the road begins sloping up a bit, she slowed down and had trouble keeping her momentum going. But she had success, and just like on Sunday when she finally started working on her swimming, she began enjoying herself and wanting to see more success.

These last few days interacting with her like this have been very rewarding for me (and I hope for her). It has been nice to feel that I was able to teach her a bit and see the success. And it was nice to see the happiness on her face when she knew that things were going well.

1 comment:

Sven Golly said...

Indulge me while I take a strol down memory lane. Your post evoked fond thoughts of the young Helga Golly quickly learning to propel herself on two wheels around the cul de sac behind our house in Grandview. She was determined! We took a short bike ride together last night up to the yoga factory, where we both did a workout. These are sweet times.