Sophia's New Ride

Sophia had completely outgrown her little 12" bike and it was clearly time for a larger bike. Unfortunately, in spite of the training wheels, last week she took a pretty good tumble off it and has not wanted to get back on.  

The only way I could finally persuade her to get back into the saddle was to plaster every form of knee, elbow and hand protection on her that I could find.  I also have to walk alongside her, ready to steady any bobble before she will agree to even get near her beautiful new bike.  

The weather has finally cooled down a bit, so when I picked her up from school today, I suggested we go outside so she could ride her bike.  She looked at me horrified and emphatically shook her head no.  When that didn't dissuade me, she took a different tact "riding my bike is so boring."  I countered that I did not want her to be one of the few five year olds in her class that couldn't/wouldn't ride a bike.  She did not appear to be impressed with my argument and promptly changed the subject.

Well, I must have made a little headway, because not 15 minutes after we got home, she disappeared while I was prepping their lunch boxes for tomorrow.  I assumed Sophia was playing with her dolls in her room.  So imagine my surprise when she came around the corner in her helmet and all her protective glory, and announced she was ready to ride her bike.  She actually made it out of the garage, and she seemed a little more confident, so I think progress was made.  I just hope it continues.