Celebrating Independence

A little over a year ago, I wrote about Joy's new sturdy big-girl tricycle that she got for a birthday present. She wasn't immediately impressed with it, but once she got to school, they were using the same kind of trike and she learned to trike up and down the halls like crazy! We're continuing to practice at home:

Our street is quiet enough that she can ride on the street as well as the driveway, though it's good to have another person nearby.

Rose doesn't want to be left out of the fun either, though her recent new inches have made it more challenging to fit herself onto Joy's trike:

Speaking of sizing, I pulled out Rose's old training-wheels bike just to give it a try. Joy's too big for it! We tried just a little bit, and she at least stayed upright, but she kept wanting to stretch her feet forward to the front wheel where the pedals SHOULD be, and also wanting to press the pedals backwards (which on the bike activates the braking function, but on the trike puts you into reverse.) I'll see if I can adjust the seat and handlebars for our next try, but I'm thinking we're going to need a larger training-wheels bike to make this work.

Meanwhile, we're having a long, summer-y weekend here. Real-live fireworks aren't on the agenda, since they're so very late in the evening and so very noisy besides. But Rose has come up with a substitute:

and a message for anyone who comes by:

Hard to Handle

Remember back a couple of months ago, when I posted about the door handles on our cars?

The handle on the Honda Fit, Joy could easily manage. You just hook your fingers or thumb under the handle and exert moderate pressure upward. Piece o' cake.


The one on the CR-V, she was not able to operate. You have to choose the correct half of the handle, wrap your hand all the way around, and pull outward with significant pressure. Didn't come easily.


So we worked on it bit by bit.

First, I wrapped Joy's fingers around the handle for her, and then put my fingers on top and opened the door hand-over-hand.

Then, when she got the hang of grabbing the handle, I pulled on her wrist (so she had to get her grip tight enough to keep hold through the pull).

Then, I moved the pull-help back to her elbow.

Then, I started asking her to make the pull, and only helped a little.

On Thursday, Joy began opening the door on her own.

This process took several months, practicing at least every other day, sometimes every day, sometimes more than once a day. But the resulting increment of independence is a beautiful thing.

(Barbara/TherExtras, here's lookin' at you!)