That is her way out there riding away! You can barely see her she is so little!
I'm getting a lot of joy watching my kids grow more independent. When I had only toddlers and babies around there was a lot of joy watching them go from infant to walking, smiling, and talking and discovering their new world. But then to watch them figure out some of their own problems, learn to read, wash their own hair, and ride a bike....that is a whole different realm of joy that...I am enjoying. I am in the most demanding, and joyous stage of motherhood. A couple of my kids are going to school and I still have a baby and toddler around. It is so fun and never a dull moment. I really love all of it!
A couple of days ago I needed to go for a run but didn't want to go by myself and invited Andrea to come along. She was super excited. I woke her up at 5:20 and she rode her bike while I ran. We got to main street and it has a slight up hill grade. Nothing very noticeable unless you were running or biking. She was having a hard time keeping up. I put one of my hands on her back as I ran to give her just enough help for her to keep going. I kept encouraging her and telling her that it will get easier once we get to the street light. She was a trooper and although her legs I'm sure were burning she kept going. Once we got to the trail we were going downhill the rest of the way home. She was so happy to be going down hill. I explained to her that she did such a good job going up the hill that she could really enjoy the down hill. If she didn't go up the hill she wouldn't be able to know how good the down hill felt. I told her that that is why we are hear on the earth, to learn the good from the bad. I've also been trying to get my girls to work better so that they appreciate when we play. This was a great example of hard work paying off. A week or so ago I also had a conversation with her about Adam and Eve. I was able to continue that conversation by explaining about the fall and how Adam and Eve chose to eat the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil so that they could progress by learning pain and joy. Adam and Eve didn't know how good they had it in the garden until they were cast out and had to work hard for their food and they also had a lot of joy from having children they couldn't have in the garden. I hope to continue applying these lessons in life to the gospel to help them build a good foundation for their adulthood. As I was running and Andrea was riding her bike and we were talking I felt really happy to have this one on one time with her. I think she really needed it too!
