Gracie Rides

I taught Gracie how to ride a bike without training wheels this weekend. It was awesome.

I was completely stressed about work - in fact, I had just gotten off of a phone call that sent my blood pressure way up - and was not really patient with Gracie. She sensed it. She didn't want to have anything to do with it. She was getting frustrated with the bike. But really, she was getting frustrated with me.

Then, I let it go. I said, Mike, this is one of those moments. This is a life moment. I will never have this back and if I don't make it now, I don't know when I will. So, I just forgot about work and all of the other nonsense that was clouding my ability to teach her how to do this.

Pedal and steer. Pedal and steer. That was the first thing.

I ran so much, hand on the bottom of the seat. Run, run, run. Pedal and steer.

She made it a few feet by herself before she would go right into the grass and fall over instantly. But we got right back up and did it again. And again. And again.

She really didn't get the steer thing down that day, but she got pedal, pedal, pedal. Just keep pedaling, Gracie. A few feet turned into 10 feet and 10 feet turned into 20 feet and 20 feet turned into halfway to mom. And about an hour later, she rode down the entire sidewalk all by herself. No dad runnig beside her. No training wheels. No accidents. It was awesome.

She was so proud. And so I was I. I was so happy that I didn't let work get in the way of this.

This past week has been filled with special moments - Les Mis with Steph, Christmas at home with our family, getting a huge raise at work, feeling blessed at everything we have - but teaching my daughter how to ride her bike was, by far, the highlight of this holiday break.

Once you learn how to ride a bike, you never forget. That's what they say, right?

Well, Gracie Jane can now ride a bike. :-)

PS - the next day, we went out again, and she rode around the entire huge bike path at the park all by herself. All by herself.

Star Wars Infatuation

About a month ago, I introduced the boys to Star Wars. Our friends, the Schwarte's, have a son (Jackson) who is infatuated with Star Wars so for the last year or so, the boys have been exposed to Star Wars through him - through his legos and stories. Well, one Saturday, I noticed that episodes 4, 5 & 6 (the best ones, of course) were on back to back. I recorded them. Then, we watched them. One by one.

Max is Lupe (not Luke) Skywalker and Nick is Obi Wan Kenobe. And he has recently picked up talking Chewbacca all the time.When we ask him something or when we introduce someone to him, he just gives the Chewy response. I don't even know how to write that orI would attempt??????

They love the light sabers and Dark (again, not Darth) Vadar, and of course, Gracie is partial to Princess Leia.

Star Wars was my childhood. I remember going to see The Empire Strikes Back with my dad at the movie theatres. Other than Savannah Smiles with our elementary class, that's the first movie-going experience I can remember. And TESB is much cooler than Savannah Smiles, so that's what I think about when I think about my first movie. And I had all the figures. Man, if I still had those...

It's awesome to go through this phase with them. I sure do hope it lasts a long time.

PS - Damon is a Star Wars freak and he was here mid-December and we all watched Return of the Jedi. He thought it was the coolest experience, watching his favorite movie with his little nephews. :-)