Persistance and Bikes

My younger daughter can now truly ride a bike. She can start on her own and turn and stop and the whole bit. It all finally came together this afternoon. She's not our youngest bike rider, but she is the quickest to go from that first push on two wheels to really mastering it.
She was the first of our kids to start riding on what we call a scoot bike, or what most of the world calls a walk bike. It's basically a really little bike for really little kids with no pedals and no training wheels. She's been scooting around for years. She even outgrew the really little scoot bike and had to move to a bigger one. The idea behind this kind of a bike is that a kid gets used to the feeling of rolling and gliding and steering on two wheels. This is really the hardest part, pedaling is relatively easy. We have always had a tricycle in the house so we know she can pedal just fine. Once you can coast, and you can pedal, it's theoretically easy to learn to ride. Theoretically.
In practice, you're trying to accomplish two fairly complex tasks that have never been related at the same time. I can play the violin, and I can ski, and I bet I could ski while playing the violin, but I also bet it would be pretty ugly at first. That's where persistence comes in. Quitting is always easier than pressing on, regardless of the fact that you feel like you can't do it. The wanting to do it, and the keeping at it are very important. We had a couple of blow ups in the past few weeks as she's been trying to get it all figured out. She wants to ride her bike, but more importantly, she wants to ride it herself. This has led to some dramatic meltdowns as a combination of frustration and heat overwhelmed her and turned her into a sweaty sobbing mess. She'd had a taste of it though, and she wanted it all, so she kept trying. Today she did it. She asked me to come outside and take a break from washing dishes to see her turn, and turn she did. She did lap after lap up and down the driveway smiling the whole time. She missed a turn or two and had to start again, but she took it all in stride and was very proud of herself. I'm sure that as soon as it gets light tomorrow morning she'll be back on the bike riding up and down, back and forth, enjoying the payoff for not giving up.