This day being pedaling a bicycle.
As a small toddler, she struggled with ride-on toys. She could never figure out how to propel herself effectively with her feet. Eventually it was two feet pushing at the same time; alternating her feet to push herself never connected.
We had a little tricycle that we tried to get her to use but she would get so frustrated with it. Part of it was the length of her legs (too big for the tricycle) and part of it was the complete lack of coordination. It was like it was too much for her to process altogether at once.
It also didn't help that we lived in a place surrounded by steep hills, making learning difficult. And when we would walk up to Balboa Park, the last thing I wanted to haul was the tricycle. So we had no idea how to pedal anything.
Then we moved to a flat driveway, and Grandma came through with a new bike. (Thanks, Grandma and Jim!)
Putting it together.
Trying to be patient while final adjustments were made.
Testing streamer aerodynamics.
Maiden voyage!
There have been a lot of frustrations around it, a lot of yelling about it, but generally she has caught on amazingly well. She loves it. We love that she loves it.
We live across the street from a large church, and their parking lot is literally directly across from our driveway. After some coaxing we convinced her to go ride around there one night.
Makes me so weepy.
In other, non-chronological news, I turned 30. Weird. I'm 30 now, and this is what my kid looked like on my 30th birthday:
More than a little hard to believe.
The move has been stressful on all of us. We had a garage sale, we've donated stuff, we've filled a storage locker to the gills. It seemed to slow down enough for us to go to Target, and for me to get suckered into purchasing a puppy purse*
What do you do when your kid is a CARBON COPY of yourself?
Now that we have a yard, we can use our golf club for its actual purpose of golfing, instead of incessantly pretending it's a vacuum cleaner. Is this how Tiger started?
She may have to lose the purse next time she plays.
Tomorrow is Bug's triennial IEP meeting, which is a big one, as we will talk a lot more about what Kindergarten may look like. Even though she won't start K until Fall of 2015, the district has been really great about being proactive knowing that we may move. I'm anxious about it. I'm anxious about it for the same reason that I'm crazy anxious about summer camp this year. Most (if not all) of my friends with kids Bug's age are sending them to camp this summer (day camp-type things). Cost not withstanding, I don't know if we can do it. I've asked a few if they are good with kids with special needs, and many are… not. And it's so hard to even ask that question, because there are so many stereotypes associated with the phrase "Special Needs." And even though you look at her and you would probably never think in a million years she has special needs, the truth is she does. No, she does not have Down Syndrome, and she's not autistic (etc etc), but she has several necessary accommodations if she's going to have a successful time.
There seem to be two very distinct types of activities out there.. those geared toward "typical special needs" kids, and then those that cannot accommodate at all (and those places who say they can accommodate and then it turns out they really can't, so we have to bail mid-month.. *cough* dance *cough*). We want and need her to be with her regular-track peers… but she also needs additional attention. It's exactly what we'll be going up against with school for the next 13 years. I have yet to come up with a succinct way of describing this so I just ramble and repeat the same phrases over and over.
This is why I eat a lot of jellybeans.
A lot.
Seriously.
*The puppy purse is currently on indefinite time-out, as well as her ENTIRE WARDROBE OF DRESSES because she hasn't been napping. This is serious, people. This child would rather eat raw carrots for every meal than wear pants. It is also VERY SERIOUS that she has not napped in three days. She cannot walk in a straight line. She cannot talk without bursting into tears. JUST TAKE A GODDAMN NAP.
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