Shoes tied, clothes folded, bike ridden - the path to growing up!

So this has been a big week in the Warriner household. Polly, our 5-year-old, has mastered some real big-kid things!

We did our standard "Fall Fashion Show" where we get out all her fall and winter clothes and try everything on to see what still fits. Looked like we needed to get some new church clothes so some shopping was in order.

Sunday we went to our favorite store, Super Target, and did some serious shopping. We made it to the fitting room with over 20 things to try on. After making some hard decisions (do we go with the red plaid skirt or the pink... so tough) we made it home with lots of mix-and-match pieces very appropriate for a little girl that is trying to grow up but her mom isn't as ready as she is.

Our ground rules - nothing with Hannah Montana, Camp Rock, or High School Musical, and we both had to agree on it. That's it - shopping was actually so much fun with her! She's got the pink/black preppy/punk look going on and I love it!

Then as we are trying to put her clothes away (usually done with forceful stuffing into her drawers) she decided she should fold her pants and showed me how she could do it! Very nice, we'll see how long that lasts. Most of her stuff hangs up so stuffing - whatever - as long as it's not on the floor.

Monday comes around and she comes home from school saying "I can tie my shoes! I can be the shoe tie helper!" She really can tie her shoes now. We've practiced maybe 5-8 times total and each time she insists she doesn't want to learn. It all has to be in her own time. That's just Polly!

Then Monday afternoon we finally got to put the pedals on her bike and she got on it and rode without a single minute of help! I must say, we got the Trek Float bike and it was so great. For the last few months she's practiced "riding" without pedals so she could get the idea of balancing, braking, coasting, and picking up her feet. It was the easiest bike training I've heard of.

Every day after school she's coming home and riding all around the driveway and around the block pretending like she's doing a triathlon! I've got a short video of her growing up and her little brother following in her footsteps!

Funny John story - he tells us that when he grows up he's going to "be a big girl and go to Kindergarten too" - too cute!