Betsy learns to ride

The title pretty much says it all here. The first three pictures are three attempts to learn on two different bikes (in fact, two different continents). First is State College in May; then Blois, France at the end of September; and finally, at the park near our apartment in Olivet on October 14, where she finally put it all together and rode by herself.

However, it is not the case that Betsy took five months to learn to ride; in fact, the three occasions shown here were really some of the only chances she has ever had to try this, with the exception of a couple days during the summer at our house. One of the truisms of children growing up all too quickly is that they spend almost no time at all in the stage shown in the photos. Somehow this seems like such a defining moment as a parent, but it's really gone in an instant! With Molly, it was about three days. At least with Betsy we managed to artificially prolong the process.

Betsy hasn't looked back. We've gone on a couple of fairly long bike rides around the neighborhood, and Betsy just putts right along with no trouble at all. It makes her SO happy.

Incidentally, the bike is on loan from Didier and Sabine's son Cyprien, who has outgrown it but is not quite large enough for the bike that Molly is riding now (loaned by their older son Gabriel). We're very lucky that their children (the same ages as ours) tower over their age-mates, while ours, uh, don't.

Finally, here are a couple of videos. Betsy was very proud of herself! You'll hear a huge "Watch ooouuutttt!" from Betsy in the second video. She was worried she might hit Molly, the distant figure in that shot. That was then. Now she can steer and brake with confidence.