01/05/2026
The One Where You Learn To Ride A Bike
Over Christmas break, my four year old learned to ride her big girl bike! 🙌🏼 This has been a long process, let me tell you. We started her off with a little pink balance bike at age two, and she was zipping around the neighborhood in no time. She quickly outgrew that so we upgraded her to a (which, if you don't already know, they are the GOAT of kid bikes!). The ability to be able to take the pedals on and off depending on the readiness of your kid is the best. This girl was physically ready for her pedals for probably a year or so, but emotionally, not so much. One try, one fall, lots of tears, and she would demand to have them taken back off. I would continue to encourage her to try riding her bike again, but she would always say "only without my pedals off." 🫠
Over the last couple months, I would tell her she was more than ready to do it, all she had to do was decide that she was going to be brave and try it more than once and then she would get it! Enter the unmatched skepticism and defiance of a four year old 😅 We were playing outside a few weeks ago and she was riding her scooter while watching big sis whiz around on her bike. She swapped her scooter for her bike, rolled it over to me and told me to put her pedals on because today she was going to "do it". And she did!! She fell a few times, but picked it up so quickly that before she knew it, she was cruising right along and was so giddy with JOY!
*Insert cheesy New Year post here!* 👇🏼
I can't help but wonder how often WE stay in the safe zone, even when we're ready for so much more? There are so many scary choices & decisions in front of us every single day. It is so easy to just continue to take the easy route and refuse to "put our pedals on" that we end up missing all the fun and opportunities that are simply a push away. So... here’s to a year of letting go a little, being cautious when we should, and choosing to push off and GO, even when it feels uncomfortable. May 2026 bring you the courage to make those hard and scary moves so that you can experience the same JOY of that of a child when they finally learn to ride their bike ❤️