Monday morning I decided to do an experiment. Courtney has been resisting her naps lately and I devised a plan to WEAR HER DOWN so she would be so exhausted that she couldn't do anything but sleep.
After Ethan left on the bus, Courtney got her 30 minutes of TV time then we got on the bikes. It has been great weather here so I decided to take advantage of it. I put the bike trailer on behind my bike and then got Courtney on her bike. I figured that we could bike to the park that is about 1 1/2 miles from our house (I'm just guessing there) and when Courtney got tired I could put her bike on the top of the trailer and her inside it.
Courtney loves speed and so I had to rush to keep up a lot of the time. But we had to stop a few times to fight monsters she saw and to rescue R2-D2 and Luke Skywalker (but that's another story!). She is quite erratic when she rides too. I had forgotten about that but Ethan was the same way. They stop on a dime and don't let you know, so you have to be on your guard or you run over them. And Courtney loves to crowd me, so I kept having to move over to let her by but then she would keep crowding me. It really was hilarious because I crashed twice because I am a funny bike rider, but I'll blame it on Courtney's erratic riding ;) No, when I was little my Grandpa Andersen told me that there is only one way to mount and dimount a horse - from the left side. Somehow this switched over to the way I ride a bike. I can't get off a bike or on a bike except on the left side and if I have to stop it has to be with my left foot down. If I have to use my right foot, I fall. And that's what happened a few times. I had to think too hard about which foot to put on the ground when stopping quickly behind Courtney. But it was fun.
About halfway there she got pretty tired and got in the bike trailer for about 4 blocks, then got back out and finished on to the park. We played at the park for about an hour and then rode back home. I noticed when we took off for home that she was a bit slower than she had been before so I knew it was working!
About halfway home she just told me that she "couldn't go any more" and I put her in the trailer and drove back home. It took up all the morning and she was so tired when we got home. We quickly ran to the store for some supplies for our turn to do Preschool this week and then we ate lunch at home. By this time she was really worn out so I put her down for a nap and didn't hear from her for 2 1/2 hours! It was awesome. I think I may have to do it a couple of times per week just to get her a good nap.
Here is her crazy ride down the slight decline by the park. She was pretty wobbly and kept looking around and getting distracted. I thought for sure she would crash but she just loved the speed!
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