The Big Day

Two weekends ago, we went as a family to a couple of stores. While in Walmart, Steve took Samantha over to see the bicycles (we had been talking about getting her one with training wheels in the near future). This was a spur-of-the-moment decision on his part, and we didn't spent an appropriate amount of time preparing her for the fact that we were just trying a few bikes out to determine what size we would get her.

Needless to say, she left the store in tears ... wanting a bicycle and a helmet SO BADLY. It was all she could talk about for days.

Then, when I got home from work one night last week, I went up to say goodnight to her and she told me that Daddy was going to be ordering her a bike on the computer. She described it in excruciating detail -- Frankly, I wouldn't have expected anything less. She even described the helmet.

The next morning, the first words out of her mouth were, "Momma, did Daddy order me a bicycle and helmet?"

He had. We just needed to wait a few very long days for them to arrive.

The bicycle came yesterday, and Steve put it together last night after dinner.

I'm not sure who was more excited -- Sam or Sophia!

Sam got out the directions, but Daddy didn't need them (as usual):

It's a John Deere bike!

Sophia was in charge of handing everyone their tools:

Putting the seat in place:

Putting the pedals on (Sam was concentrating so hard that she was sticking her tongue out!):

All put together:

Testing out the training wheels in the kitchen:

It was then that Samantha announced, "We can pack my tricycle away for Sophia now. When she's older, we can ride together!"

After putting some air in the tires, we headed outside so that she could take it for a spin! And it was a success ...

********************

In all of this, there was just one disappointment. Her special polka-dotted helmet did not arrive on the same day as the bicycle. We just explained that they were still building it at the factory, and she seemed content with that.

Lo and behold, the helmet arrived TODAY!

And look at how happy she is about that!

Modeling for Momma:

I think that Samantha's life is complete now, as this was undoubtedly the two happiest days of her life! I can't believe how fast she's growing up ...