Sophie's World

10:14pm We're all very proud of Sophie. She rode her bike today without training wheels for the first time! Her bike needed new inner tubes, so I took care of those this afternoon and convinced her that it was time to get rid of the trainers. We've tried this once before, but Sophie is just not the type to take a risk. On anything. Ever.

Sophie agreed (bravely) that it was time to get rid of the training wheels. I was surprised, but happy to give it a shot. She was pretty confident that she'd make it work, until she got on the bike. We barely got out of the driveway before she started to stiffen up and get tense. Elisabeth was trying to be encouraging, and I promised that I would be with Sophie to make sure she didn't tip over.

Well, it was a bit rough going at first, but I kept telling Sophie that she was doing well, that I knew she could do it, and that I would do everything I could to make sure she didn't get hurt or fall. About a block from our house, she started getting the hang of things, but insisted that I still hold on. By now I was just barely keeping my hand on her bike seat. As we turned the corner, she started to take off and I let go. After a while, I let her know that I wasn't holding on anymore and it all went smoothly from there.

The best thing of all was that people were out in their yards and they were cheering Sophie on! Everyone could tell that she was riding on her own and they were so encouraging. It made me so thankful that we live in a small town. Sophie felt like a little celebrity--and I'm glad she did!

When we got home, I told Sophie how proud I was of her and how I knew she could do it. She let me know that she was proud of herself (as well she should be). When she went to bed tonight, I told her to have sweet dreams of riding her bike all over town.

Posted by Randall at 11:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

9:51pm Funny (and touching) story from Sophie today. We had made plans (for some time now) to fly the whole family to Dallas for a shopping trip at the American Girl Bistro to celebrate Lizzy's birthday. She had been looking forward to it for a long time and, as you can probably tell from the tone of my words, we didn't go.

Hurricane Ike is supposed to make its way through the Dallas area tomorrow right when we're there and trying to find our way home. So, we postponed the trip. Elisabeth was crushed, and the rest of us were very disappointed, but because of the weather, we were able to rearrange everything (including the flight, hotel, and reservations at American Girl Bistro for lunch) for next weekend with no problems.

As Lizzy was crying and crying and crying, Sophie went looking for Susan's "Panic Button": a toy button with a sound chip that says, "Stay calm, stay calm, don't panic; on second thought, PANIC!" It's very funny and we have all enjoyed it these past few months. It didn't help Lizzy much, but Sophie clearly was trying to cheer her sister up and really wanted to make things better. I know it's hard to tell some times, but those two girls really, really love each other!

Posted by Randall at 10:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)