Clarissa did very well in her fun run at Arches a week ago, and loved it. Ever since that time, she has been asking to do more running. So today we decided as a family to try to do wellness weekends with Cycling Saturday and Runday Sunday. So today, we all went to the park and ran a mile as a family. Everyone did well, and we were particularly amazed at how much Clarissa liked to run, and how adept she seemed at it. Maybe we have a budding runner!
At home, Lily prepared an amazing lunch for everyone and Georgia was able to join us! We loved having her over to visit and she was deeply moved by Lydia’s beautiful harp playing on her new harp. Lily Georgia and I also had a really engaging conversation about Clarissa’s recent achievements on the bike, the discipline that practicing an instrument cultivates and harp manufacturers.
After our visit with Georgia, we all went to Foothill elementary. Lily, Lydia, Mary and Ammon rode their bikes around while I worked more with Clarissa. To my delight, Clarissa picked up right where she left off yesterday, and immediately started riding in long stretches. But she still didn’t know how to brake, so that’s what we drilled today.
We tried over, and over, and over, and over (and over and over and over), and over and over (you get the idea) again. She had the same problem with braking that she had with pedaling yesterday. When it was time to do it, she got scared, her mind went blank and she froze. So each time we tried, she’d get going and then it would be time to brake, and she’d said, “Daddy, help, I don’t know how to do it, I forgot how to do it!” and I’d catch her if I was able to, and sometimes she’d fall. Then we’d practice how to do it and it was clear she knew how, she just got so scared when it was time to do it. I was very patient overall, but I did get frustrated a time or two like yesterday. And she responded to my frustration by trying harder and digging deeper. About halfway through Lily was done biking with the kids and she came over to support while the kids hung out and played on the playground next to us. I was so grateful for her cheerful support because I was losing steam. She was praising me while I was praising Clarissa, and I really needed her moral support as I was wearing down.
Clarissa was an inspiration. She got really really tired and started yawning profusely. But she still wanted to keep going.
At one point she started riding and took a sharp turn, and drove state into a tether ball pole which knocked her off her bike and put a bruise on her leg. She was a complete deer in the headlights riding a perfectly straight line for a good fifteen feet right into that pool. She was really shook up, but just like yesterday, she showed immense grit and wanted to keep going. And then she started to get it! When she did her first really good braking, I jumped in the air and shouted. Lily was beyond thrilled. Clarissa continued to struggle, getting it on and off, but by the end of the day, she had brought herself to a stop by herself ten times, which was enough to earn ice cream at Baskin Robbins which we all enjoyed as a family afterwards (it felt fitting since Lily recently read an article in The Atlantic that said studies show ice cream helps prevents diabetes and that has generated a lot of conversation in our household lately).
We were immensely proud of Clarissa who once again proved herself to be tenacious and determined. Despite fatigue, pain and fear, she worked until she reached the goal, and we could not be more proud.
We freaked out when Ammon started climbing this on his own, but I think he was thrilled when we allowed him to do it while I monitored.
Before grabbing ice cream, we got takeout from Happy Sumo and ate it as a family in the perfect weather near the stage at the Riverwoords (just outside of Happy Sumo). While we were eating Ammon wowed us with his uninhibited and magnificent dancing. Clarissa delighted us when she started dancing too! It’s possible the video will not be allowed to play because of the pop song in the background that is likely copyright protected, but note to the family, on this date, we have an amazing video of Ammon dancing in our files!
Ammon has been asking me to play legos with him this weekend and tonight I followed through. We had a great time gaining control of the temple that the bad ninjas had taken over.
And then, after all of today’s work and fun, I got to settle into one of my absolute favorite things about life right now, and that is playing Wingspan with Lily. We’ve both been playing really well lately, and I was feeling quite happy with the 40 cards I tucked this game 🙂
