Taylor Learns to Ride

Because their father would not allow it, I had neither a bike for the girls nor the ability to teach them to ride one.  


Now, Taylor finally got the motivation to learn, so Ken took her out today and within an hour, she was riding on her own.


I loved Ken's patience with her, and I had even more fun watching Mandy run alongside her sister wearing her own helmet (we're working on finding a used bike so Mandy can learn next).  


After Taylor spend 40 minutes learning to ride, she begged to be able to ride her bike to her friend's house to pick up her jacket that she left there.  I was so honored that she asked me to take her, so we set out on our bikes. 


Taylor was very unsure of herself, and she had a very difficult time steering straight.  The entire way to her friend's house, she would get spooked if I came within 5 feet of her.  


She was completely stoaked that she had ridden to her friend's house, and when we arrived, she made sure to announce that she had finally learned how to ride.  Her friend was excited for her, and they were bummed that Taylor couldn't stay to play since the friend and her family were leaving.


On the way home, we started to pass Taylor's friend who had a lemonade stand.  She wanted to stop and talk to her friends, and she was glad they gave her 1/2 a glass of lemonade since she only had a quarter and not the 50 cents they were asking.  They chatted for a while and commented on how cool it was that she had finally learned to ride a bike.  I was really impressed by the fact that both of these girls told Taylor that they had learned "years ago" but they didn't make fun of her for just learning.  In fact, they were both very supportive.


Taylor felt like a million bucks, and by the time we got home, she was finally in better control of her bike.  She is incredibly proud of herself, and while I didn't think it was possible, she reveres Ken even more now for helping her and never yelling at her during the learning process.