proud mama

I'm a proud Mama today. My son got a new little huffy bicycle from his Papa and Grandma for his birthday (training wheels included). I was a little reluctant about it at first since he has a big wheel thing that he hasn't figure out how to pedal yet. He is still scooting with his feet on the ground. I have tried several times to help him but he still scoots. He recently began to pedal it backwards . Anyway, we got him a little bicycle helmet and all the appropriate padding that you are supposed to buy. He is diggin' the helmet because it has Thomas on it. Thomas rocks.
Today was a beautiful day. I told him that when he woke up from his nap we would go outside and play. I figured today would be a good day to work on his pedaling skills. When he woke up he put his little Thomas helmet on (he wasn't diggin' the pads and I didn't force it). I took him outside determined to make some progress with the pedaling today. I had no idea how to get him to move his feet properly. I quickly realized that when you push down on one leg by the knee there is a moment where both pedals are aligned on the vertical axis and you have to tilt the foot up a bit to push forward before you can push down. As I tried to push his knees down and forward I was pushing his feet off of the pedals. He was getting as aggravated as I was. So I squatted down and grabbed his feet. In my frog stance, I pedaled his feet down and forward with my hands. We went back and forth on the concrete a few times. His brain kept wanting to pedal backwards as he likes to do on his big wheel. As you know, this applies the brakes, which sends me flying into the back of him as I try to keep up with him in my frog stance. Lovely.
I was about to give up for the day when, without my guidance, he made two forward rotations on his own. I lined him up and gave him a starter push and he pedaled all the way across the concrete by himself!!! . I was so excited and so proud all in a single moment. It was almost too much. I almost cried. I think I heard my back cry too. We gave him a great big round of encouragement then lined him up to do it again. He was off like a pro!!! "ATTA BOY!!" I yelled. Then he ran off the end of the concrete into the garbage cans (thud! followed by laughter). The third time he did it he used his brakes to stop then after he let off the brakes he rolled forward off the concrete into the knocked over garbage can. He was having a blast. While he was on a role I wanted to take him down the street to a nearby park. They have a paved track that would work nicely for practicing.
My husband and I took him to the park. I thought we lost him to the playground for a minute but he followed along to the track. He got on his bike and off he went! He was riding like he's been doing it for years. Words can not express how proud I was of him.
He made the corners with ease. It was a pretty even spot until we got to the other side. There is an uphill climb. He got mad at me for pushing him to keep him moving up the hill. When he realized it was too hard to pedal without help he didn't put up much of a fight. Once we reached the top of the slope he took off like a bandit on the straight away. Then, the downward slope!! We warned my son that he is about to go down a hill and he needed to use his brakes like Thomas does with the troublesome trucks. I looked at my husband and said "Get ready to run". I knew one of us would be chasing his little arse down the hill and it might as well be him, right? Ok so anyway, my son is pedaling his little heart out and he starts to pick up speed. He is in front of me now and I can see him push back on his brakes but only for a second. My husband is running along side of him and I'm thinking "He'll slow him down. He'll grab him" But he just kept on going, gaining momentum. I saw the handle bars jerk a little bit (as they do right before you are getting ready to wipe out) and as I went to yell something incoherent, the handle bars swing to one side, the bike begins to tip over, my husband runs toward the bike, grabs my sons arm and holds him up like a prize winning Bass as the bike proceeds to fall flat on its side tripping up my husband who consequently lost his shoe as he tried to avoid falling over the bike. In the after glow of the incident my husband had this big smile on his face like "I meant to do that". I immediately begin my barrage of questions "Why did you let him go so fast", "Why didn't you stop him", yadda yadda. "He has to learn some time" I replied "You got lucky".
My son, however, got right back on and pedaled to the playground. He made it all the way around the track :) Good times, good times.