On Friday, August 12th the training wheels came off and learning began. Lessons for the first two days actually took place on the little streets surrounding the cottage. I figured that Stella wasn't actually going to be good enough yet for us to even let go of her handle bars. So falling wasn't much of a concern.
Indeed there was no falling and not much success. Stella was far too wobbly to ride on her own. Lisa eventually took over the lessons when I tired out.
We tried again on Saturday with similar results.
[ Sadly, a good friend of mine was also teaching his daughter to ride her bike that weekend in Brooklyn. Tragically, he died of a sudden heart attack while out with his daughter. I found this out on Monday morning when I woke up to catch my plane back to New York. So I dedicate Stella's bike riding lessons to Mike. ]
Lisa took Stella to the beach during the week while I was away and continued the lessons, but Stella wasn't yet ready to fly solo.
Fast forward to the next weekend.
Yesterday I went down to the beach at 5 pm with Stellie for more low-tide bike lessons. We took along Nana Audrey and Aunt Carol for support (and Marni).
We made a few attempts and Stella seemed still pretty wobbly. I didn't let go. After some prompting from the peanut gallery, I asked Stella if she wanted me to let go. She said yes, so we gave it another try.
We started down the beach and, after about 50 feet, I let go.
And off she went! Success!
I ran along side her as she grinned from ear to ear. She eventually made a safe stop and cheers went up from her audience. We did this several more times. Eventually we started doing turns. Then we worked on teaching her how to start on her own. She made two successful runs all on her own before we called it quits for the day.
She was so proud of herself (and I was so relieved).
This morning I flew back to New York and Lisa will pick up where I left off. Practice, practice, practice!
This one's for you Mike.
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