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Like riding a bike

The other day Eleanor asked to have her training wheels taken off her bicycle. We had a few hours to kill and it was an absolutely beautiful day, so I got Michael's wrenches and took the training wheels off. I think I impressed Eleanor, she hadn't been sure that Mama could use Daddy's tools.

Then Eleanor wanted to ride. I was trying to take care of Luke, but he was well (I had just dosed him up with motrin) so I let him play in the sand while I tried to push Eleanor. I wasn't able to get up very much speed, and she did not want to ride on the driveway, so she got a lot of experience falling off her bike in the grass. She actually got quite good at leaping free of the bike and landing so she wasn't hurt.

Amanda seemed to think that she could help most by standing directly in front of Eleanor's bike just as Eleanor wanted to get going. It took a while to dissuade her of this idea. After a while I pushed Eleanor while holding Luke, which made the chances of Eleanor staying up even slimmer.

She seemed to be having a good time, though, and she thinks that she is terrific at riding a bike. "I think I pedaled 6 times that last time! No, look at how far I went, that was more like 20 times!" (She actually pedaled 3 times, and only stayed up because I was holding the seat.) I'm glad she is optimistic and has a "can do" attitude. I am certainly not going to tell her that she is terrible at riding a bike---that would only make her not want to try, and someday she will be as good as she thinks she is. It's just disconcerting dealing with someone whose picture of reality is so divorced from what is actually going on.

Update on Amanda: I think the episode Monday night may have been an allergic reaction. I don't know to what, but by the time we got home from the pool she was very tired and unhappy. She had one hive (I thought it was some sort of bug bite, since there was only one). When she threw up, she had little bumps all over her back which went away after 1/2 tsp benadryl. On the other hand, she had been tired and not acting herself all that day, and Luke had been sick... so who knows. For now, the rest of us are healthy (knock on wood.)
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