Rites of childhood

Today was another milestone marker - Kid#2 is riding a two-wheeler for the first time! No training wheels! On the other hand, he's now exhausted and screaming a lot. I'll remember his two-wheeling riding instead.

So after school, I picked up the boys and we (they) played for a while in the school playground. It's actually city land, with a big play-yard, but the school kids have use of it during the day for lunch hour and so on. Great facility. Kid#1 proclaimed himself to be bored and wanted to bike. I guess there were probably kids around there biking. So home we go and drag out the bikes. I mean, literally drag them up from the basement where they've spent the winter.

It is clear - very clear - that Kid#2 has grown way too tall for his little yellow bike with the training wheels. The next size up (which we brought with us from Kingston, just in case) doesn't have training wheels. So I ask, "Are you ready for riding a bike without training wheels?" I mean, the kid is almost 7. Of course he's ready. And he's an eternal optimist, so I bring up the new green bike without the training wheels.

Tire pressure seemed ok (like I know about these things) so off we head to the school yard - again. Streets, as you can imagine, are a little dangerous for newbies on these bike thingies, but the school yard has a very large, conveniently flat area that is for a splash pad and kick ball and a few other things - so we head there.

Kid#1, like a cycling pro, races off around the school, asks for a trick bike, and bikes fast off any sort of jump-like thing he can find - curbs, retaining walls, random piles of dirt.

Kid#2 alternates between "I will NEVER be able to do this" to "Hey, look at me! I'm biking!!!" and eventually gets the hang of it quite well - keeping his balance (mostly) and looking ahead at where he's going instead of looking down at his miraculously pedaling feet (mostly).

Only two problems with Kid#2's style.

1. He can't seem to go in a straight line.
2. He doesn't use the brakes.

Apart from that, he's great!

Heading home, we see Daddy biking back from work and he's pretty impressed with Kid#2's progress. Later, Hubby says to me, "You're a good mom".

Yeah. Sometimes I am.