Monday, November 26, 2007

On Two Wheels

I just read a blog post from Catherine Newman, one of my favorite Mama writers, about the "milestones you never read about." Her blog is here and you will laugh and cry!

Yesterday I came home from coffee with friends and walked right into a major milestone. The Boy was in the backyard with Daddy, riding his bike WITHOUT TRAINING WHEELS! I felt like I was invading a private moment as I watched my husband run, hunched over, around the basketball court with his hand behind the bicycle seat. And the wobbly, baby bird way The Boy was riding the bike, with focus and determination but also a huge smile on his face made this Mama Bird so proud.

I almost didn't go outside because I was afraid the Mama Drama effect would ruin his momentum. That suddenly he'd be rendered incapable of riding because I was there. But I did, and he wasn't. I prayed silently that he wouldn't have his first big fall because he was looking over at me. He didn't. They did a few more laps and then it was my turn to hunch and hold.
We did a few laps, and he's getting the hang of it. It was freezing November outside, and too cold to spend hours mastering this new thing, but at least he was riding, with the wheels off.

He's been a sporadic bike rider, going for stretches of riding every day and then leaving the bike untouched for a week, but over the summer had really mastered the training wheels. Every time he would have a big fall or some episode of riding to the park and getting too tired, he'd give it up for a while. He's a December baby, and the bike purchases always seem to be in the fall, right before his birthday and right before the crummy weather hits. And again, here we are--training wheels off right before we may get our first snow of the season.

But riding a two-wheeler with no trainers is a big deal, a big step toward being a big kid, and he was proud of himself. Maybe if the rain stops I'll be in for more hunching and holding.

Photo coming soon--I have a memory of my sister taking a big fall right after she posed--while riding--for her "no training wheels" picture, so I didn't want to take the chance on the first day.

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