An Eliana first: She talked on the phone.

As Beth was talking on the phone to her mother, Eliana walked over. Beth asked Eliana if she wanted to say something and held the phone down by her. She said “Hi” to grandma.

Another Ethan first: He secured a load.

Ethan asked me to help him find our box of bungee cords. You can’t be too careful when hauling a wheel loader in a dump truck.

An Eliana first: She gave Bunny a ride in the swing.

Eliana put Bunny in the swing and then asked me for help with putting down the lap bar. When Bunny was snugly in place, she pushed theing and gave her a gentle ride.

Another Ethan first: He swung by himself.

With Eliana wanting to swing more and more, the timing for Ethan to learn how to pump so that he can swing by himself couldn’t be better.

Another Ethan first: He took out the trash.

Lounging on a comfortable deck chair is no place to be when you remember that the trash needs to go out. That is, unless you muse out loud to yourself, “I wonder if Ethan is old enough to take out the trash.” Only the garbage was time sensitive; the recycling truck wouldn’t come until after lunch. Ambiguity, however, can be your friend, especially when a five year old gets inspired. After five minutes or so Beth went to inspect. (No, I didn’t stay lounging; Eliana wanted me to push her on the swing.) Beth’s report was of a perfect job, worthy of continued enjoyment of the weekly privilege for at least a dozen years.

Another Ethan first: He left bunny behind.

While Ethan was putting on his shoes to go with Beth to the general store, she asked him to look around the house for bunny. He asked how far away the store was. When Beth said not far, he decided, “I don’t need bunny. Bunny can stay home. The store is close.”

Another Ethan first: He rode his bike without training wheels.

Grandma lent Ethan a bicycle that was a size smaller than the John Deere bike he normally rides. It took less force to pedal and felt a bit more stable with its lower center of gravity. This gave Ethan the confidence to ask me to take off the training wheels.

We started on the driveway. I held the back of the bike as Ethan put his feet on the pedals. I took a couple steps with him and let go. Ethan rode ahead about thirty feet, slowed down, and put a foot to the ground.

Next, we tried a longer run. There were no cars on the street, so we started right in the center. I held on to the seat again, this time just long enough for him to get his feet on the pedals and start forward. Straight and steady he went down the middle of the road, past a couple houses. He turned awkwardly to the left as he approached his destination, our mailbox, and came to a less-than-graceful, but acceptable, stop.

On the way back, Ethan had the advantage of a gentle slope, so he tried starting by himself, and it worked. With ease he steered from the road onto the driveway.

This gave Ethan the confidence to call out with excitement, “I want to ride to the bank!” For months he had been asking to ride his bike alongside mine, rather than ride passively behind in the trailer. My response had always been that the training wheels made his bike too slow, and that we could ride alongside when he was good at riding on two wheels.

Ethan believed that time had come, and despite the brevity of his five minutes of logged training time, I concurred. The entire route was slow, low-traffic residential streets. He stayed safely by my side while my bike coupled with the big, yellow trailer with Eliana inside provided a highly visible hedge about him. The only difficulty was down the larger hills. Up was fine, but Ethan was too nervous about braking to slow himself while still maintaining balance. So he walked his bike until he reached bottom then hopped back on to chug up the hill that followed.

The bank teller was impressed. Not only did Ethan get to enjoy riding his bike without training wheels, but before we departed for the ride back home, he also enjoyed a congratulations candy bar.