Last Glance: Training Partners

Five-year-old Emmett Eitreim can keep up with anybody—even Dad.

Little Emmett and his dad, Steve, are no strangers to the grueling work of bike riding. Although Steve is more into the triathlon scene, and Emmett into the loop-around-the-park-in-front-of-their-house scene, both appreciate a good bike ride.

Heidi Eitreim, who caught the photo of her youngest son and her husband with her Sony A77, says, “[My husband and I] just started triathlon training. We take turns every morning, and one of us stays with the kids. [This day], he was coming back and the boys were out waiting for him so they could take a lap around the park.”

Sporting his colorful shirt that unabashedly proclaims he is “Cruisin’ 4 a time out” (“He’s a little spitfire,” his mom says, “so the shirt fit him pretty well”) and bright red helmet, Emmett, who was 3 at the time, already shed his training wheels long before this particular ride.

“In his mind, he can do anything [his older brothers] can do. So it made sense not to have training wheels,” Eitreim says.

The look of intense focus on Emmett’s face is one that extends not only to his bike riding, but to various aspects of his young life, and it’s proven to be a good thing already for the 5-year-old, who just finished his first year of homeschooling with his older brothers.

“He sits in with [his brothers] all the time. He’s the most studious one!” Eitreim says.

The kids are used to Mom and her camera, the photo albums from which are full of spontaneous shots like these.

“I try not to ever make them pose. I feel like the candid shots are always the best,” she says. “I just want to capture who they are in that moment in their life.”

Emmett Eitreim, 3 in this photo, keeps up with dad Steve as he does a cool-down lap around the neighborhood.

Don’t forget! Photos like this one are being submitted now in the Picture Plymouth photo contest; join in on the fun here.