The wheels have come off!

Training wheels that is...

Alex has finally beat his fear of falling and failing.  He is learning to ride his bike without training wheels!  

We have tried taking them off countless times and nothing worked.  He simply could not get over the fear of falling.  Last week I had a chat with him and told him that we just need to do it and get it done.

It wasn't going very well at first.  Which I had expected.  I can honestly tell you that this has been one of our biggest hurdles to jump.  Alex has a high frustration level and wants to be able to do things right the first try.  He also has a harder time processing so many things at one time (pedaling, balancing, steering). When he "fails" his mind just can't get over the hurdle and keep moving forward.

I talked to him about reading.  How he got really frustrated when he couldn't sound out the words, but we just kept practicing and he jumped up 4 grade levels in just one school year.  I told him he could do the same thing with riding his bike, but he needs to have confidence in himself and not give up.

We practiced quite a bit last week and we really weren't getting anywhere.  Mom is a lot like Alex and wants to just give up when things are going the right way.  I knew I had to come up with an idea that would work with his frame of mind.  So, we started talking about Skylanders and how he is really good at beating levels and beating Kaos (the bad buy for those who don't know).  He told me how he beat the game in hard mode.  The next mode was nightmare mode.  So... I used that with riding his bike.  I told him it was like beating the hardest level of Skylanders.

For the first time, he said, "Mom, I know I need to just clear my ahead about being afraid and start all over."  I told him that is exactly what he needed to do.  So I reassured him that even if I let go, I will still walk/run beside him to help catch him in case he falls.  

We went up and down the road about 8 times.  He was able to go a little bit more each time.  The problem we were facing is that he would stop pedaling and panic.  We were across the road from our driveway and I told him we were going to try and get him into the driveway.  So I pushed him a bit and he actually told me to let go!  Huge moment right there.  He made it to the driveway before he put his feet down.  We tried about 5 more times.  He was doing it and getting further each time!

Dad came out to watch him and cheered him on.  He was so determined to get all the way to dad (who was standing halfway in the driveway).  He did it.  We cheered like it was the first time he walked.  His smile was from ear to ear.

Today we got back out on the bike and after a couple of tries he was going down the road to the neighbors driveways!  He is getting better and better and now he knows he CAN do it!

We are super proud of him!  Rhoslyn was even cheering him on.

I told Alex once we get him riding his bike good, he will have to help me get Rhoslyn's training wheels off.  He agreed.

Summer 2015

We have had a pretty great summer!  I resigned at my job and finished late June, so I had the rest of the summer to spend with the kids.

The kids enjoyed:

Bay Beach
Water park Hotel
Timber Rattlers Game
Jelly Stone Campground
Parks
Playing Soccer
Playing with cousins and friends
Sleepovers at Grandma and Grandpa O's House
Riding Four Wheelers at Grandma and Grandpa Ritter's House
Graduating at Cub Scouts
Dance Recital
Lots of chalk and riding bikes
Going to the Beach
Having friends visit us from Kansas

I can't wait to see what next summer will bring.  Now we are getting ready for school to start and mom is on the search for a new job.  Rhoslyn is going into Kindergarten and Alex is going into Second Grade!  The kids are growing faster then we can keep up with.

We are looking forward to Fall and all of the fun that it will bring.  Picking pumpkins, apples, LOTS of baking, cuddling under warm blankets, watching football, and so much more.

Dance

Rhoslyn just finished her second dance season.  Their theme this year was Circus and their song was Clover the Clown.

She loves dancing and I think it's something she will stick with for awhile.  We are taking a break for the summer so she can play soccer like Alex. 

Just one more year of her being in a Combo class and then she will get to pick and choose what she wants to be in.  

Practicing during Rehearsal.

Practicing during Rehearsal.

Recital Day!

Moving on up

Our little girl is moving on up to Kindergarten!  I just don't know where the time has gone.  Mostly, I can't believe that we will officially have two children in school full-time!

Rhoslyn also had her last program at daycare.  It was bittersweet.  When she goes to daycare now, she will be a school-ager!  No more rest time either.  

I just can't believe it...

As bittersweet as it is, I am so glad she is heading to Kindergarten.  She needs it, to say the least.  She is a very smart girl and 4k just isn't enough for her.  She has mastered all upper and lower case letters, knows patters, writes her name beautifully (now we just need to work on her last name), she knows her letter sounds, counts to 100, can read some words, etc.  She is definitely ready!  This summer we are going to work on Sight Words and reading more.

This young lady is going to achieve great things!

Tiger to Wolf

Alex graduated from a Tiger Cub to a Wolf Cub a couple of weeks ago.  We are so proud of him.  Cub scouts has really helped him grow this year.  He has opened up more and he is being more outgoing.  He raises his hand to answer questions and really enjoys doing the activities for cub scouts.  One of my favorite parts of cub scouts is that he is learning what it takes to help people in the community.  This year he has helped with raking peoples yards, sang carols at nursing homes, helped distribute food donation bags and pick up and rang bells for the Salvation Army.  We love that he is getting these opportunities and it's awesome to talk with him about it to see how he felt about helping out in the community.  We couldn't be prouder of him.

Bill had surgery the day before Alex's graduation, so he wasn't able to attend.  It was hard not having him there and very emotional.  Luckily we were able to do a live video chat so dad could see Alex get his new book and badge.  Alex was also able to spend his Scout Bucks.  He chose some pretty cool items!  He loves scouts and dad loves doing scouts with him. 

Feller Cake Bake

Bill and Alex were part of the Cub Scout Feller Cake Bake.  They had to make a cake without any help from mom.  The theme this year was sports.  They decided to make theirs into an Aaron Rogers Jersey.  It was fun watching them work on it together, but mom mostly had to hang out in the living room.  Her control issues were surfacing and she wanted to help in the worst way.... but couldn't.

They won Judges Choice!

I have to add that this photo was taken on Sunday after church.  Alex put on a t-shirt with athletic pants.  I made a comment about why he didn't have nice clothes on.  He went back and threw this shirt on over his t-shirt and left the athletic pants on.  It was too funny and cute.  I didn't say a thing and that is how he went to Sunday School and Church last Sunday. =)

Dinner Battles

So I am sure just about every family has at least one child who makes a fuss during dinner.  Rhoslyn is usually that child in our family.  Don't get me wrong, Alex has his moments too... but I think he has learned that it makes mom a bit angry to complain about the food she made.  So, I am pretty sure he usually just sucks it up and eats it.

Rhoslyn didn't want to eat her Alfredo tonight.  She claimed it tasted like the fork.  She also complained about her berries.  Apparently those only taste good at lunch (since she ate the same ones for lunch today).  She was whining and crying about dinner and I got fed up with it.

I told her that we weren't going to listen to her whining.  We would only listen if she talked like a big girl.  Daddy was just about to break that when I chimed in.  She looked at Billy and said, "If I go to a new family, I will miss you."

Now I didn't hear this at the time, but when Billy told me I just about died laughing.  Hopefully one day she realizes that mom won't get upset if she would just eat her dinner without complaining!

So I just look at these pictures to remind me of how sticken cute she is!