A Girl and Her Tricycle

Anna is such a champion on her tricycle! We live on an acreage that sits on a big circle road---neighbors have calculated that it is almost exactly a one-mile loop. We take family walks "around the big circle" with strollers for the littles; meanwhile, the big kids will ride their bikes or their scooters with funny helmets. Then, the fun part! About midway through, we have a major switcheroo so that James trades his bike for Thomas's scooter; Thomas wants to ride in the stroller which boots Anna and she wants to run here and there on the road (eek!); Claire ends up on James's bike which then leaves her bike abandoned so Daddy ends up carrying Claire's bike. Then, after we make it up the one "hill" (it's Nebraska, so I use that word cautiously), all of the kids want to switch it up one last time. Usually, James (the 8-year-old) ends up in the stroller while Anna (the 2-year-old) earnestly tries to push him the last lengths home [we call him King James, begrudgingly]. Family walks are so much fun!

Given the musical chairs routine that we normally perform while out and about, it has been so abnormal to see Anna's focused determination on her sweet Red Flyer scooter. She loves her tricycle with a sincere devotion. While the other children are at (pre)school, Anna, Grandma, and/or I will play outside together. She rides, and rides, and rides, and rides on her little trike. One day she was so persistent that I let her leave the driveway---and we kept going, and going, and going until we finished the *entire one-mile big circle* around our house---the same big circle that the big kids can barely do on one bike, or one scooter, or even for a quick walk without a changeroo to Dad's shoulders or being carried home. Anna is a tricycle trooper! Her little legs just kept pumping and pumping and going and going. It was the funniest, best thing. And it's only going to get better when these three new little ones can jump out of their strollers to contribute to the switcheroo routine during our walks "around the big circle"!