Family Fun

We've had a couple of pretty fun weekends, lately, that we'd like to tell you about.

I kept hearing about all the snow and cold weather back in St Louis and started thinking that it'd be good to go somewhere to play in the snow and do some sledding. So, I talked to Becky and we all made the 2 hour drive up to Big Bear, 7000 feet up in the mountains, to spend the day snow-tubing. Stephen was hesitant at first but after the first run down the big hill, he was pumped. We tubed for almost 5 hours that day and were quite worn out when we finished. Stephen slept for most of the ride home.

Last weekend, Stephen accomplished a major milestone that has been a long time in coming. He learned to ride his bicycle without the use of training wheels! That's right, there's no stopping him now. Well, actually, that statement is more true that you might think, because, while Stephen can now ride his bike without help and without training wheels, he cannot yet properly stop his bike. At least, not that well. That takes a little more practice.

I had taken him out to ride on the tennis court about 3 weeks ago. It's a nice flat location with no cars so he feels pretty good riding there. He had training wheels on the bike and I would walk alongside him trying to get him to feel how he was leaning the wrong way or to get the feeling that the bike is leaning. That's when I realized that the training wheels were really preventing him from feeling it. They did not allow the bike to lean so he didn't realize there was a problem. I decided to remove the training wheels on our next try. Without them, he could really tell what the bike was doing. I walked along with him holding the bike and preventing him from falling. When he got up to speed, I began taking my hand off the bike. He started doing better and better. Then it got dark and we had to quit.

Last Sunday, I took him back to the court and we tried again. He started off poorly, but quickly remembered what he had done the week before. I stayed right along side him as he gained more and more confidence and got the feel of riding and balancing. Eventually, I got him to go all the way around the court without having me touch the bike. He was really doing great. I ran to get Becky and brought out the camera. Stephen really showed off how well he could ride. I didn't even walk with him. He just went around and around the court by himself. Becky and I were very proud.

Then we told him that next weekend, the three of us could get out of the tennis court and go riding together in the park. His response? "NO WAY!" We have to work on that chicken part next.