Time flies
Anna brought me her bike over the weekend and said she wanted her training wheels removed. We agreed to practice every night. She doesn't have it yet, but she will soon:
I remember Chelsea getting very emotional about Nick turning 9, because that meant he was halfway to college. There was something equally poignant for me about taking the training wheels off Anna's bike - the end of an era, and the start of a new one. We don't need training wheels, or baby gates, or high chairs anymore. Soon we'll need driver's licenses, prom dresses, dorm linens. In between, we get to enjoy some great little moments:
Me, Nick, and Anna, running from the Chick-fil-A back to Maria's ballet school to pick her up and head home for dinner, making up songs in the car together. We decided that even an extended dance remix of the beginner song "Hot Cross Buns" could only be a minute and a half long, and we laughed ourselves silly imagining a Hello Kitty version of The Hives' song "Tick Tick Boom".
Maria and me, sitting outside on the patio this morning eating breakfast together before school. It was overcast and incredibly quiet. She chatters all the time, and then occasionally she can be incredibly peaceful and serene.
Me walking backwards with Anna on her bike, letting go when she isn't paying attention, whooping with delight when she manages to pedal along for a short stretch while balancing.
I used to try and take video of these things, and it was too disruptive - you inevitably have to remove yourself from the moment too much in order to make the video. With pictures and words, I can at least collect up home movies in my mind.
I remember Chelsea getting very emotional about Nick turning 9, because that meant he was halfway to college. There was something equally poignant for me about taking the training wheels off Anna's bike - the end of an era, and the start of a new one. We don't need training wheels, or baby gates, or high chairs anymore. Soon we'll need driver's licenses, prom dresses, dorm linens. In between, we get to enjoy some great little moments:
Me, Nick, and Anna, running from the Chick-fil-A back to Maria's ballet school to pick her up and head home for dinner, making up songs in the car together. We decided that even an extended dance remix of the beginner song "Hot Cross Buns" could only be a minute and a half long, and we laughed ourselves silly imagining a Hello Kitty version of The Hives' song "Tick Tick Boom".
Maria and me, sitting outside on the patio this morning eating breakfast together before school. It was overcast and incredibly quiet. She chatters all the time, and then occasionally she can be incredibly peaceful and serene.
Me walking backwards with Anna on her bike, letting go when she isn't paying attention, whooping with delight when she manages to pedal along for a short stretch while balancing.
I used to try and take video of these things, and it was too disruptive - you inevitably have to remove yourself from the moment too much in order to make the video. With pictures and words, I can at least collect up home movies in my mind.
