August 17, 2008: Taking Off the Training Wheels

To our astonishment and great pride, Veronika learned to ride her bike (without the training wheels) in about a half-hour this afternoon. When she saw some of the neighbor kids riding "two-wheel bikes" in the last month, she started asking if we could take the training wheels off her bike, which I did yesterday. We took her up to her new school where they have a big lawn to ride on, the theory being that falling on grass is better than falling in a parking lot. I pushed her around and gave her pointers for a while, but in no time she was doing laps around the parking lot, waving to Mama, with me jogging beside her. After that, we couldn't pull her off it for another forty-five minutes.

What amazed me most was her confidence, as if it was a foregone conclusion that she would learn to ride right then and there, she just needed the right information. She took every piece of advice very seriously and kept repeating them to herself as she started the next run—balance, keep pushing, don't lean. She didn't really get frustrated at all, even when she took a couple of spills, she just wanted to know what to do next time to prevent it from happening.

She was so excited. Oh, to be able to put that feeling in a plastic jar. As the sun started to set, she was riding away from me, running commentary still going strong, and I heard her say, "I just practiced and practiced and then POOF! I knew how to ride my bike!"