There's something about a dad

 Just as soon as the snow melted around here, the kids were after Shawn to get their bicycles out of storage, so we went and got them one evening, and then Isabelle, (who I don't think got to ride her bike at all last year, everything was so hectic around here,) immediately asked Shawn to take off her training wheels.

He left on a trip right after that, and Isabelle asked me to go help her learn to ride the thing.  We tried and tried to get her to ride it for about an hour, but nothing was coming together, and my back started hurting from having to bend over and hold onto her seat as we went up and down the driveway.  When Abram woke up from his nap (I was so relieved!) I told her that she would just have to practice on her own, or get her training wheels back on for awhile.

I told Shawn about it and he said, "Oh... it sounds like she just needs her dad."

Turns out he was right!  He summoned her outside this evening to practice on it and she took right off.  I asked her what was different, and she said, "He just told me to pedal like mad, and it worked!!"  Then, afraid that I'd feel bad that I hadn't been able to teach her after working and working and WORKING at it, she said, "Don't feel bad, mom.  Everybody has different talents, and that's just one of dad's talents!"

While I was grabbing some pictures of Isabelle, I heard Shawn invite Nolan down to the pond with him "What do you want to bet that I can skip this rock clear across the pond?"

And when he did it, Nolan, (who has been very cross for the last couple of days) was giggling with delight and trying it out himself.

I'm so glad that I don't have to raise this family all on my own!