mike, as our 6th child, has been the fearless one. during the summer olympics of 2008, we couldn't let him watch platform diving because after he saw them do it once, we caught him out by our pool stacking chairs/tables, anything he could find to make it higher for him to try it in our deep end. he will try anything once, and comes up with the craziest ideas.
except. when we lived in florida, he would not try to learn to ride a bike. not with training wheels, not with us helping him. we thought maybe he was afraid of the busy road we lived on, or the fact that he overheard our thank-God-jack-had-his-helmet-on story so many times that he was afraid that he, too, would take a bad fall going downhill and crack his helmet on the sidewalk.
fast forward to this year. now he is 7. and our neighbors ride their bikes to our house every day (they live two doors down). they had a few spare bikes, and offered him one. with no training wheels. he didn't need any instructions. he walked up our street (it has a gentle incline), balanced himself on the seat, and coasted down to said neighbor's house.
i could tell he wasn't fearless by how white his knuckles were from holding on so tight.
eventually, though, he got the feel of peddling and could turn around in our friends' driveway.
then he could turn around and ride back *up* the street.
and eventually he looked back at me as he drove away.
three cheers for you, mike.
we love you.
except. when we lived in florida, he would not try to learn to ride a bike. not with training wheels, not with us helping him. we thought maybe he was afraid of the busy road we lived on, or the fact that he overheard our thank-God-jack-had-his-helmet-on story so many times that he was afraid that he, too, would take a bad fall going downhill and crack his helmet on the sidewalk.
fast forward to this year. now he is 7. and our neighbors ride their bikes to our house every day (they live two doors down). they had a few spare bikes, and offered him one. with no training wheels. he didn't need any instructions. he walked up our street (it has a gentle incline), balanced himself on the seat, and coasted down to said neighbor's house.
i could tell he wasn't fearless by how white his knuckles were from holding on so tight.
eventually, though, he got the feel of peddling and could turn around in our friends' driveway.
then he could turn around and ride back *up* the street.
and eventually he looked back at me as he drove away.
three cheers for you, mike.
we love you.
1 comment:
YOU! never posted saying he is SMART
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