BIG Weekend

We had a really big weekend. I mean really big.

As I've mentioned before, Caroline has a sensory processing disorder. This has made many typical kid things really hard for her to do. Sensory processing issues affect all kids differently but motor planning has been one of her biggest issues. This is really just a fancy way to say that she is terribly uncoordinated. Or maybe I should say, she was terribly uncoordinated.

Caroline has been begging to take her training wheels off for months now and we have really resisted. Why set her up for failure, we thought. Saturday was a beautiful day and we had no plans so we figured, despite our misgivings, we would go ahead and give it a try. Rob took Caroline and her bike down to a track in town and I crossed my fingers while Katherine napped. Rob and Caroline returned triumphant. She had managed to ride about 500 feet a few separate times. She couldn't start or stop on her own but she could ride. On Sunday, she asked for the "whole family" to go and watch her ride. We all went expecting a repeat of the day before. We should have planned a bit better because when all was said and done, Rob had run a mile and half- pretty quickly. Caroline started with only the smallest bit of support and she was able to stop independently. She rode for long periods of time, without stopping. She once made it 3/4 of the way around the 1/2 mile track!

I guess Caroline figured if her body was serving her so well, the weekend of success should continue. We spent the afternoon at the pool where she jumped off the diving board for the first time without blinking an eye. We also have been working hard on her stroke. While she has been a fearless swimmer, going under the water, jumping into the pool and efficiently getting from point a to point b, her stroke has been really funky. Yesterday, it was perfect.

We then returned home to complete the triumvirate. Caroline has loved to play soccer for a long time. It has actually been, by far, her best sport- with no eye hand coordination required she's met with a bit more success. Yesterday though, Rob reported that she kicked farther and smoother and stopped the ball with greater ease than ever before.

London 2012! Here we come!