A Big Week for Margaret

This week has been full of surprises for Maggie... and for her parents, too. It started last Wednesday when Rob took the one remaining training wheel off of her bike and told her it was time to learn how to ride. Maggie's pretty nervous about trying adventurous things and did quite a bit of complaining, but she and I went out to the road to practice. First she pushed with her feet to practice balancing, then we went a little ways with me holding onto the seat and the handlebars, then ever so gradually, she tried to get both feet on the peddles and push before losing balance. And then eventually she got it.

(Remembering how to balance, and worrying that Obie's in the way. He and his cow are unconcerned.)

Because she's so timid, I had to stay with her pace for pace, yelling wonderfully encouraging things like, "You have to peddle faster if you want to stay balanced!" and "You're doing it, keep going!" and "Aim for the middle of the road!!!"

(Racing with Beatrice.)

And once she got it, it was amazing. There goes my little-big girl riding her bike for the very first time. I knew she felt like she was flying and that made it seem like I was flying, too. Chest-bursting high flying.

Although Maggie flies with much more consternation than most.

She's been practicing everyday and asking to practice when we're not practicing. She rode her bike all the way around Frontenac yesterday while I pushed Beatrice and Obie in the big stroller. She has fallen down several times and she scraped her knee to the tune of two band-aids, but she keeps getting up (albeit wailing) and gets back on her bike. I'm awfully proud. I sent out videos on my phone!

But bike riding isn't the only milestone she's had this week. The night after she first practiced riding she came to me and said, "I really think this tooth is loose." She's been hoping for a loose tooth for at least a year and is often telling me she thinks that one is loose. And this time it actually was! She wiggled it vigorously back and forth all that evening and the next day when she wasn't wiggling it with her fingers, she was pushing it way forward with her top teeth. Then yesterday I asked her if she could twist it around, so she tried that for a while. It didn't take much of that, though, and mere moments later her first little bitty baby tooth was sitting in her hand. She didn't even cry! I was amazed.

(Taking a Congratulations Phone Call from her Aunt. A very young-lady thing to do.)

It's only been a month since she turned seven, but so much has already happened. I think I have to stop calling her a little girl now.

Maybe she'll even grow...