How she got there

So I finally managed to borrow Caleb's phone in order to shoot another video of Havi riding her pedal bike. But before I share it, I thought I would include a few photos I snapped of Havi last fall after she just received her balance bike.  I never got around to posting them because I was so busy sharing about our trip to Connecticut.  But I thought now would be a good time to sneak them in...also because (maybe) I haven't picked up my camera lately.  Shame on me.  But thankfully, that's changing soon because we have some special visitors coming next week to help us celebrate another little dumpling's birthday.

Anyway, she had been riding her balance bike about a month when we had this impromtu shoot in the cul-de-sac.  Isn't she just the cutest?

So I looked back on my computer to pull a video or two of her when she first got her balance bike (and thankfully found some.)  It's the Scoot by Ridgeback, and I'm so glad we got it for her.  It's built like a real bike in every way, except it's missing the pedals.  These videos were shot when she first hopped on it.

After riding her balance bike for five months, she was more than ready to move on to a pedal bike.  If I were to take a photo of the bikes side-by-side, you would see why she so easily transitioned to her pedal bike, which is the 12" Hotrock by Specialized.  They both have 12" wheels, highly adjustable seat heights, and wide handle bars with comfortable grips.  Unlike most big box store bikes, the Hotrock's pedals are further in front, allowing a child to easily push on the pedal to gain speed.  Not only that, the frame of the bike is wider and lower to the ground, offering the rider more control.

I have had several people tell me how amazed they are that Havi can ride a pedal bike at the age of 3.  Sure, she's a bright little girl and a fast learner.  But really, the right tools and some practice was all it took.

Still 'lil Hav, we're really proud of you, girl!

Go get 'em!

She pedals!

So last week Havi decided she was going to get all "grown up" on us and start riding a pedal bike.  Yep, you read that right.  It all started when I accidentally tried running over her balance bike because a certain little someone left it right in the middle of the garage, and I couldn't see it when I opened it up and tried pulling in.  The sound of crunching metal made me stop, of course.  So I got out and surveyed the damage: twisted handle bars and back tire/brake.  I managed to fix the tire and brake while Patrick repaired the handle bars all before we left for camping.  Thank you Jesus.  

But it got me thinking...if I couldn't fix the bike, I surely wasn't going to replace it with another balance bike.  I determined that she would just have to learn how to ride Madeline's old pedal bike.  Well, while we were camping, there were a handful of little pedal bikes with training wheels on them because of all the munchkins on our camping trip. And so I decided to put Havi on one of them to see how she liked pedaling.  Well, it was clear she enjoyed it. So when we got home from our trip, I decided to take Madeline's little pedal bike to the shop to get air put in the tires and let Havi have a go at it.  Needless to say, she took off!  Little girl knew exactly what to do.  In actuality, she probably could've started riding it sooner. She has shown so much control on her balance bike.  But maybe I was secretly hoping to get some longevity out of the bike since it wasn't the cheapest on the market.  Who knows?!   lol

Anyway, the other night I snapped a few photos of the kids playing tennis in the driveway as I was getting ready to take some photos of Havi riding her bike.  But then I ended up talking to a neighbor and didn't take any more photos before the sun set.  Oh well.

And here's a video Caleb took of Havi right after she learned how to ride her pedal bike last week.  I really need to have him get a few more videos because now she cruises up and down the street with some serious speed.

We are just so proud of her.  

And now she can keep up with all the bigger kids on the street.  She may be the youngest and smallest, but she won't be left out!

And the peanut turned three!

Well, it's nothing like taking Christmas card photos to motivate me and catch me up on some photo editing.  I'm here today to share (and not too terribly late, I might add) some photos from Havi's birthday celebration.  We figured that we would eat out and have cake on her actual birthday, which was a week ago Sunday.  Unfortunately, Caleb's tennis tournament was pushed to Sunday from Saturday because of all the rain we had. I ended up baking her birthday cake on Saturday and then made the frosting and decorated it Sunday morning.  We were able to eat lunch, sing Happy Birthday, and open presents before heading out of town for the tournament.

I originally was going to use the same swirl decorating technique that I used on her cake last year but using pink and white this time.  Due to not knowing our actual departure time for the tournament, though, I ended up tinting the whole batch of frosting pink and just doing a simple ripple effect along the sides of the cake.  I did a small ripple effect on top too but ended up covering it up when I decided to add the sprinkles.  I used traditional American buttercream, which I do not like but my family does.  They say my Swiss Meringue buttercream isn't sweet enough, and compared to American buttercream, it isn't.  But I am going to try modifying the recipe to make it a tad sweeter for them.  It's just so much nicer to frost a cake with, in my opinion.  Oh, and I made a mini 6 inch cake so we didn't have too much uneaten cake sitting around, which worked out pretty well for our little family. 

 Well, we eventually made it over to the tennis tournament.  Caleb was half way through his first match when my sister and her family showed up.  He won that match handedly.  We are so proud of him.  Because of the weather, the rest between matches was shorter.  Consequently, we chose to hang out at the facility rather than head over to my sister's house, which we often do when he plays at that particular site. The cousins had so much fun playing together.  Caleb also hung out with a few of this tennis buddies.

 I wanted a portrait of the birthday girl on her actual birthday, but she wasn't too interested in posing for me, unless you consider acorns on your head a pose.

 After snapping a photo of the birthday girl with her brother and sister, I asked my sister to snap one of me with her.  First I stole a kiss while my nephew photo bombed us, and then she gave me a gigantic bear hug.  Oh, my heart melted.

 I had to get a photo of Baba with his little girl too.

The sun was setting when Caleb got around to playing his last match.  And so I had to snap a quick photo to show proof that it really did try to shine, even if it was ever so brief.  Caleb ended up losing his second match to the highest ranked player he's played to date.  And although he lost, he played pretty well.  We are just so proud of him. 

Anyway, fortunately for Havi next year, her birthday falls on a Monday.  So she shouldn't have to celebrate her birthday on a tennis court three years in a row. lol  We love you little Hav Hav!  

Happy 3rd Birthday!!!

What she said

It's hard to believe our precious Havi has been in our arms fifteen months now.  And in just two short months, she will be turning three.  Where oh where has the time gone?  She's no longer that itty bitty 18 month old we held in China.  Nope.  I seriously tried to savor those younger months because Madeline and Caleb came home at much older ages, 28 months and 34 months respectively.  Yes, I tried savoring and appreciating diaper changes and tantrums because I knew those things would come to an end.  And when they did, I would be sad.  Call me crazy.

Anyway, the other night I was putting Havi to bed.  She likes to bring a toy to bed, mostly to play with to delay sleep.  Well, this particular night she grabbed her China baby album.  It's the album we actually had sent her with photos of us, but her foster family switched a few photos out with some of her and one with Havi and both her foster parents.  Despite the room being lit by just a night light, I asked her who the people were in the photos.  She pointed to herself and said, "Me."  Then I pointed to her foster parents and she said, "Mama, Baba."  I couldn't believe it.  It's been probably six months or more since she has looked at those photos.  Yet, she still identifies with her foster parents.  It was a reminder of just how strong their bond was, how much they loved her and she them.  It reminded me (and Patrick when I told him) of the hurt she expressed in Taiyuan.  Her heart was so broken....her precious little heart, crushed.  While that time was difficult for her, I'm so thankful she was so deeply loved at such a young age.  To see her today freely hugging and kissing her brother and sister just melts my heart.  It's a testimony to that first love.

Well, I thought I would include a few photos of Havi that I snapped the other night while she played in the front yard when Baba was trying to fix her hand brake on her bike. They eventually went on a little bike ride, but when Havi realized they were going around the block faster than she could keep up, she sobbed hysterically for her Baba.  It was precious and heart breaking all at once.

And she's off!

So this precious little peanut of ours finally got her highly anticipated bike!  Her Baba couldn't come home from work fast enough to put it together because I was having a hard time finding all the necessary tools.  After assembling the bike, this little girl insisted he install her bike light...you know, because her brother and sister both have bike lights.  So little Miss has to have one too.  Once her light was on, she was off!

She amazes me, though not really.  She transitioned easily from her little pre-balance bike to pushing Madeline's old pedal bike.  That bit surprised me because it was quite a jump from a toy to a bike.  Even though she only pushed/walked it for a week, she stayed balanced all the time, never once falling or losing control of the bike.  When she finally got her real balance bike on Monday, she just took off!  Now that the seat is at a comfortable height, she can really run.  And boy, does she run!  I can't even keep up with her.  I have to follow her at a distance and cut corners just so I'm not so far way as she rides.  And as you can see from one of the photos above, when she has enough speed, she lifts her feet and coasts.  I will have to upload a few videos I captured on my iPhone.  She's just to funny.

Seeing her so happy these last two days just does my heart good.  She loves keeping up with Caleb and Madeline now when they're either riding their bikes or scooters.  She feels like such a big kid.  Her bike riding is most definitely the talk of the block.  She might be the youngest kid on the block, but she certainly won't be left out!  You can be sure that her bike riding adventures has only just begun!

P.S.- Her new bike is the 12" Scoot by Ridgeback (in pink, obviously).

To bike or to shoot?

After our last camping trip, we realized we accidentally left Havi's pre-balance bike in our RV when we stored it.  So while Madeline and Caleb have been off riding their bikes lately, she has taken to "riding" Madeline's first pedal bike. We lowered the seat as low as it will go for her (about 16" high). So she can sit on it and walk it while on her tippy toes.  (Her inseam is about 14"-14.5".)  This is less than ideal for good balance because she needs to plant her foot firmly on the ground AND the pedals are still in her way....however, she has been pushing along quite well, with the pedals in the best possible position.  In fact, she can get going at a pretty good speed considering she is only pushing with the balls of her feet.  I'm amazed at how well she can balance and push in spite of this less than ideal situation.  About two weeks ago, I finally ordered her a real balance bike.  Sweet girl can't get enough bike videos to watch on my computer since then.  It's precious to hear her shout "new bike" or "pink bike".  In fact, she has been known to shout "pink bike" in the middle of the night during a diaper change.  Seriously!

So the other day, she was out "riding" when she warranted a diaper change.  After going back inside for said diaper change, I decided to grab my big girl camera.  Well, remember the other day when I let the girls snap photos with my Fujifilm?  This little girl does! So back inside I had to go to get that camera for her to play with so she can take "shipahs" (pictures).  And there went my plans to shoot my little girl riding/walking her sister's pedal bike.  Oh well...I rolled with it.  I don't ever want to forget these precious days of this little girl 'working' that pedal bike without using the pedals....or the days her face sparkles when taking photos with my camera.