::3 things::

Okay, so earlier in the summer, I told Portie that there were 3 big things he had to learn before school started...

1. learn how to tie your shoes (more on that later)
2. learn how to read without any help (that's a work in progress)
3. learn how to ride your bike without training wheels (check!!)



(Portie. Age 5. No training wheels.)

I tried to teach him earlier in the summer. I tried again when Matt was deer huntin'. I tried every sort of bribery too. I told him it'd be the awesomest thing ever if we could surprise Dada with it when he got home. I told him I'd buy him a bigger bike. I told him he could come on our runs around the lake in Mantua if he'd learn. He could go faster. He could keep up with Chloe and Brianna. No dice. He kept giving me all kinds of excuses "you know how 'cause you're older. Chloe's older. Our driveway isn't flat (which I took care of by taking him to an empty parking lot-a flat empty parking lot). It's hard." blah blah blah

Then, the motivation...
We looked at Cousin Addy's blog the other day, and her mom posted about how she learned how to ride her bike without training wheels. I said "Portie, look! Addy doesn't have any training wheels!" He was all kinds of upset about that. "WHAT?!!?" He wanted to go out and learn right that second. I convinced him to wait 'til Da-da got home (which was pretty soon). Matt taught him. He did awesome. I guess when it comes to teaching him things, our personalities just kind of clash. He's so resistant to learning new things, and I guess I'm not a good teacher for him-except for reading. We do okay together with reading.

Anyway...look at him go!





And the tying the shoe thing....check!!

PS Thanks, Addy, for being so awesome and learning how to ride your bike without training wheels! If you hadn't learned, Portie might've grown up and had to have a 10 speed with training wheels!!
:)