"It just takes patience."

At my Grandma W's wake in 1993, my dad got up to share a little story. (If you know my dad, you are not suprised he got up to tell a little story.) Anyway, I remember this one well. He was talking about how hard it was to teach my brother how to ride a trike when he was 2-3 years old. Andy (brother if you are wondering) would wear out the toes of his shoes because he would drag his feet.

When my parents went on vacation, Andy and I would stay with Grandma. When Mom and Dad returned this one time, Andy was pedaling his trike. He asked Grandma what she did to get him to ride it and all she said was, "Patience, Jim. It just takes patience."

I've often looked back on this story for guidance in trying to teach my kids to pedal, balance, steer, etc. Hayden is stubborn, wants to go at his own pace. Maya tries, figures it's not going to work and finds it easier to go a different route. I admit to getting frustrated while trying to get H to ride his bike without training wheels, I am in the mindset that he's 5 and should be able to. In my head I try to revert back to Grandma. Patience, Jennifer, patience.

Maya has become taken with the trike lately. She just used her feet to walk it, not pedal. I kept telling her, put your feet on the pedals and push. She'd try and realized her feet walking worked better. Patience, Jennifer, patience.

Hayden has become one with the bike. Although the training wheels are still on, they are bent so he has to lean awkwardly to use them. He is doing great balancing and riding!! He has trouble on the turns, but that will come soon enough.

Maya took off this weekend on the trike! All of a sudden she's pedaling like mad and going.

Just a little patience, some time, a little bit of frustration and a little more patience.