Record time and a Harley

Lily is fearless. She is my girl who jumps and does flip flops into her bed. She runs full blast into the couch and tosses herself onto it. She twists, turns, spins, and can do things to her body that scare me to death. She is nonstop....all day. She is constantly doing gymnastics. All I hear all day is  "Mom, watch this!!" She is tough and strong. It should not have surprised me one little bit that this kid learned how to ride a bike in record time.

While my family was here in town, we were riding bikes and she came up to me and said, "Mom, I'm ready for my training wheels to come off." I was very reluctant about this. London took forever to learn to ride and this summer is really the first time she actually GOT it. So, I was not looking forward to teaching another kid how to ride. I was thinking that next summer would be a better time to try. But J took them off and we were forced to do it. The first night she actually surprised me. I hung onto her but not like a death grip like I had to with Lo. We practiced about 20 minutes and had to stop because I would have died right there on the street from the sun.

The next day all she wanted to do was ride. She was sooo ready. That evening we went back out. We practiced for about 30 minutes and the last 10 minutes I actually let go. She rode a short distance between J and I---all alone. We could not believe what was happening. Even Lo said, "Hey, that's not fair! It took me like a month to do that!!"

The third evening, I got brave and took the girls up to the school to practice in the parking lot. Lily insisted I let go way sooner than I wanted to but I did and that kid was off. She rode all around that parking lot like she'd been riding for years. She stopped perfectly and smiled from ear to ear. I started walking over to her to help her get started again and before I could make it over there, she started all by herself!!!!!!!!!!! I'm still amazed even now while writing this!! She was so determined to do it. A little will power can go a long way.

Helmet and knee pads--safety first!

 

Meanwhile, our oldest knows something about will power too. She somehow got in her brain that she wanted a guinea pig. I have no earthly idea where this came from. I never had one of these little critters growing up so I don't really know much about them. However, I blame all this on my dear mother. Ever since she was here, London has been non stop about these things. My mother denies it.

Well, the other night, London sat down J and I and basically presented a power point presentation on why she should get a guinea pig. She had been researching the heck out of these things and can tell you a wealth of information about them. She laid out why and how she would be responsible for it.

This is what she did:

 

How could we resist? The teacher in me was just thrilled with this!! So, I listened to her rattle off all the research she had been collecting and I thought to myself--this can't really be that bad. So, off we went in search of a guinea pig. We looked all day and found an adorable one. We bought the cage first and went home to set it all up. Then went back the next day. He was still there so we got him. He's 2 months old. His name is Harley (this was also researched) and he is pretty stinkin' cute.

 

They are both in absolute love with him.