Facebook Memory from 9/6/2016
"Shared cousin experience (smile emoji) 1st time cider mill for all 4!"
"Baaah, Moooo, Oink"
"Yum! Mom, can we get this candy, or that Carmel, oooo how about that fudge - this said after cider and donuts! Ha! Answer was no"
"(Man, my cousins are a wild bunch. Look at them go.)"
"(Ok, looks like fun. I'll join.)"
NOW - 2020
We have three new cousins to meet up North! Our fall trip to Michigan 2020 is postponed to Summer 2021 (hopefully).
In the mean time, we are enjoying our family park visits.
E rode her bike! She peddled and steered! We've been practicing more often and she's improving quickly. She has a yellow push handle on the back of her bike that helps us propel her. She started off, just sitting and holding her handle bars, with her feet resting on the petals but not moving them. Then she began playing with steering and winding back and forth. She then wiggled her feet, often breaking. Then she started to steer with purpose, though gets distracted and veers in that direction. She seems to have a little confusion... when she isn't moving fast enough she quickly moves her handle bars back and forth.
Progress - time before last was the first park visit with her pedaling with purpose. We still pushed the whole time, but she was starting to connect her foot movement with this whole bike and movement thing, lol. And then yesterday (9/5), she remembered what she learned and peddled even better. So much so, we often did not push or steer (or hold on to her or the bike at all). She was riding! She is so excited and wants that yellow handle off of her "bite". (Training wheels will remain on.) We'll practice a few more times to work up to making in a whole lap around the park without propel assistance. Wow-wee our not-so-BABY is growing up.
M, A, and G all are improving their bike skills too! The big girls had outgrown the bikes we had and we had not practiced in too long awhile. During this Pandemic with decreased social time, we are boosting our vitamin D with neighborhood walks, bikes, scooter, skate, and sprinkler time. Working in swimming when we can. G and A were gifted bicycles for their birthdays from Nana. We had to track down training wheels for the bigger bikes, but once those were purchased and installed we've been practicing. They all have learned how to get on (without assistance), start moving, continued peddling, steering, and maneuvering with recovering. G is excellent at stopping and recovering without a fall or crash. A has has learned her hand breaks (the only one that has those). And M likes to ride fast! During our one lap with E, M would ride 3-4 laps.
