"If at first you don't succeed...try, try again"

(Spencer on his 4th birthday)

This is the saying of the week for my kids. For some reason Spencer has a difficult time with things that are hard for him, then when Jacob sees the way Spencer acts, Jacob does the same. Today I said, "Who wants to go on a walk?" and they all said, "I do!" They were all excited, then Spencer said, "can I ride my bike?" You have to understand that he hasn't asked to ride his bike in probably a year! We bought his bike for his 4th birthday and the excitment only lasted for a couple of weeks. Then it has been a hit and miss ever since then. He is definitely NOT the daredevil in the family. When he has rode it in the past, he fell down and has been scared ever since. So, you can understand my excitement!

So we aired up the tires, got helmets on and started off. Spencer did really well for about a block and then he started leaning to one side on the training wheels and was afraid he was going to fall, so he got off and yelled, "I HATE BIKES! I'M NEVER RIDING IT AGAIN! I'M GIVING UP!" Well, we have tried to teach our sweet 6 year old that we shouldn't be so quick to anger....hmmmm I wonder where he gets that :)! Nothing we said or did helped encourage him to get back on his bike and try again. I played the good guy and Dan played the bad guy. I told him that you can't just give up because something is hard! Then Dan told him the story of how his Dad taught him how to swim. He said, "My Dad took me to the creek and threw me in and kept doing that until I learned how to swim. My 6 year old son is going to learn how to ride a bike whether he likes it or not!" I thought to myself, how is he going to MAKE him? You could've got some popcorn and sat in our driveway because there was quite a show! After taking the training wheels off, which just made it worse, and A LOT of screaming and crying coming from Spencer, we made him get on and try again with Dan holding onto the back. I stayed in the driveway with Jake and Lauryn and I could hear the crying and screaming all the way down the street and back. It took them a while because when Spencer felt the bike leaning, he thought it was going to fall, so he bailed and started running down the sidewalk. And then they had to start all over again.

Just when I thought it was all over, Dan said, "OK Hon, now it's your turn with him." "WHAT! You are going to make me do it too?" He said, "We have to be in this together." So, I still took the "good guy" side and tried to be upbeat and encouraging (good thing Dan was there with me because when he isn't, I usually loose my cool) all the while Spencer still screamed and cried all the way down the sidewalk and back. Then as soon as we got to the driveway, he jumped off as fast as he could, ran in the house, slammed the door, and ran to his room. "OH BOY, he is already acting like this and he isn't even a teenager yet!" I have got my hands full!

(Sorry no pictures or video of this one, it would've been priceless!)