Crash, bang, wallop!

 

Scarlett had her first go at riding her bike without training wheels yesterday afternoon. With our new friends Bev and Gav and their kids in tow, we headed to the local park at the end of our street to see if Scarlett (aged 4 and a half) would be able to manage it. Before we'd even got to the park Rob was pushing her along down the middle of our street (!) and she was off, cycling along like a loony. However as we hadn't had the talk about what to do when she wanted to slow down, she chose to come to a stop by steering into a parked car. Luckily it was only an old VW Beetle and there wasn't a mark on it. Scarlett thought the whole thing was hilarious and, despite the loud bang on impact, was soon up on her feet gagging to go again. Once in the park, Rob took her to the top of the hill and let her go, there she was again zooming down the hill, all the way to the bottom around the big tree, past the benches before crash landing again. Up she got, pleased as punch and ran into my arms as we all clapped and cheered (see above video clip). I would like to point out here that I repeatedly said to Rob and Scarlett 'you should really do this on the grass, so if you fall off it will be a soft landing'. As with many things a mother says, my words went unheeded. On the third go, Scarlett made it about halfway down the path before crashing spectacularly, the sound of her bike grinding along the tarmac setting teeth on edge (the video footage is too horrid to post here). Scarlett emerged from beneath the wreckage with a bloody nose, fat lip, cut face and horribly grazed elbow. There were tears, lots and lots of them, alongwith trembling, disbelief and pain. Rob and I both ran to her, me with Flo in my arms and as we took turns comforting her, little Flo stood beside her patting her head. We headed home for a Dettol bath, band aid application and lots of cuddles before Scarlett was popped in front of Play School with a big cup of her much-loved soy milk. Poor love - look at that poor bruised, cut, disappointed face. 

It took her quite a while to perk up, but eventually she was up and at it again, playing hide and seek with Louis and Susie. Meanwhile the rest of us tucked into the amazing pizza Gav 

made from scratch, using his big bag of kitchen utensils, pizza pans and ingredients. Another lovely impromptu get together with great company, food and wine and super kids.