Biker Gang

So this Edie of ours had been on her Like-a-Bike since before she was two. She had been interested in the pedal bike for a few months. If we gleaned anything from Ben's learning to ride moment, it is that children need to have both feet on the ground to be able to ride a pedal bike without training wheels successfully and confidently. Now that's she's finally grown into Big Bill (Ben's old bike), she taught herself to ride it. All she needed was about 3 days of riding and riding around the court to cement it into her body.
At first, she needed a push start to get going. After the second day of happily riding, she showed me she figured out how to start on her own. She put the pedal bike on the hilly grass near the sidewalk and let it slowly roll while she took her feet from the ground and got to her pedals. (Pretty good lesson on friction) Now she can do that trick anywhere.

So yesterday, I floated the idea of biking to the library. Now that I check google maps, the trip is .9 mile each way.  Not sure I would have considered if I had known the exact length.  The kids were excited and we set out after second breakfast (yes be tend to be a little hobbit like in our eating habits!)

We made it to the library in about 15 minutes. We enjoyed story time and ate our yogurt snack afterward on the benches out front. (Sam choked on a potato chip and vomited the contents of his stomach. Low point of the day so far!) We washed up inside and then hit the trail for home.

Ben led the way and we kept Edie in the middle for saftey. She did a good job of staying right and pedaled and pedaled. As we made our final turn off of F st. a two lane road with no dividing line and onto the protected sidewalk on Central Avenue (our busy street) we had a moment of panic (from me) and a moment of brilliance (from Edie).

I saw the garbage truck on Central as we were coming toward the corner. For a second, I thought if he turned I wonder how far he might come across the lane towards us. A split second later, I realized that garbage truck was turning the corner (no blinker) and fast. Well, then when I started screaming towards Edie to stop or watch out (who knows what I was saying?!?!). I stopped my bike while wearing Sam in the Ergo and the garbage truck stopped. I'm sure he didn't see Edie but maybe stopped from the look for horror on my face and all my screaming.

When I realized that Edie was safely around the garbage truck's bumper (no thanks to the driver!), I  started pedaling around the garbage truck as he got back on to his side of the road. I needed to catch up with Edie.  When I got close to her, she called back to me, "Mama, wasn't that good that I didn't get hit by the garbage truck?"

All I could say was "yes, that was good."

After we got back, I asked her if she could hear me yelling for her. And she said,"No, my angels told me to go on the grass. And then I didn't get hit by the garbage truck. Wasn't that good, mama?"

Thank goodness for angels!