Skip to main content

Whining while biking

If all our biking trips go as well as they did today, we may never get up on wheels again.

It started with me actually getting on my bike to ride with Ella, Amanda and Luke just in our neighborhood. I planned a 1 mile ride around the block---no problem, right? Amanda was high on riding her 2 wheeler, Luke had said at Grandma's that he loved going for bike rides. Ella was on her scooter, ready to have fun and encourage.

Well, it turns out that the smallest, least steep hills in our neighborhood are larger than the ones on the trail in WI. Amanda would stop her bike when it got hard, and having stopped, couldn't get going again. Luke wouldn't actually push down on the pedals, it seemed, or at least he would push down on both pedals at the same time... I got off the bike and coached him up the hill: "Stand on this foot. No, THIS foot. Now the other. Keep looking ahead. Don't stop! Switch feet!" I had to physically lift up his other foot, or he'd keep pushing down on it when he wasn't supposed to. It was very weird---he does know how to ride a tricycle.

Amanda eventually got that she could go up hills on her bike, without stopping. She definitely enjoys going down them (although we didn't go down the steep hills in the neighborhood). Ella gave her lots and lots of tips. I think I'll train her on the 2 small hills near our house.

Luke, however, was a different story. I'm not sure if he's getting sick or going through a stage, but he was convinced he was dying most of the way home. "I can't do it!" and "Mommmmyyyyy, help me!" have become frequent refrains in our house, and were constant all the way home. One of the nice things about Amanda (although something to watch out for) is that she doesn't necessarily tell you if she doesn't like something. Luke lets you know constantly and in a very annoying tone of voice.

I suppose that the lesson of bike riding is that you need to get back on the bike after falling. Thinking about it, it seems a good lesson after this morning. Look for me in the neighborhood tomorrow morning, yelling at my kids to keep riding and not look back (and maybe going home for a mimosa and an advil)!

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

My hero, Helen Parr

Otherwise known as Elastigirl , a.k.a Mrs. Incredible. She is a stay at home mom ( SAHM ), she clearly feels that what she is doing is important and is willing to give up a lot to do it (remember her comment in the intro: "I'm at the top of my game! Leave saving the world to the guys? I don't think so.") But she is finding fulfillment in leading her family from day to day, in doing a hard job well. She also knows that she is very talented, and that knowledge helps her see beyond the repetitive drudgery of staying home. My favorite scene is from the deleted introduction, where she talks with a "career woman" who is of the opinion that staying home is fine for people who can't do anything else. She responds that taking care of her kid is at least as hard as saving the world, and is valuable contribution to society. The point for me is that someone has to do the job that I'm doing, and it's not something that you could pay someone to do. I see...

Kindergarten Fashions

I was informed the other day that Eleanor wants to get a new thermos. She lost the o-ring from her purple Tinkerbell thermos, and I have so far resisted buying another one for her, on the theory that you shouldn't just replace things that are broken since it doesn't encourage being careful with one's things. I have been sending her with the sippee cups that she has been using since she was a year old, which she has resisted giving up to the point of becoming partly dehydrated when I don't let her use them at home. Here's how the conversation went. Eleanor: Anna and Jane said today at lunch, " Kindergartners don't drink from sippee cups!" Me: That's very interesting. Eleanor: They are supposed to drink from thermoses. Me: Eleanor, would you like a new thermos? Eleanor: Yes! Get the purple one, please. If there is a crayon one, that's the one I want.... Who knew that peer pressure started in kindergarten? The sippee cups are perfectly f...

Girl toys

A friend just had a post about her son's desire to have a pink bejewled play phone (she and the people who comment have great things to say: here it is so you can read it). Thinking about her post made me very glad that for girls 5 and under (which is all I have experienced lately) there is no toy that is off limits as far as I can tell. Amanda's favorite toys are trains (although she doesn't play with them the way some of her boy friends do. I think Chanson's kids would play well with her version of trains). Her favorite movie is Cars. Her favorite TV show is Bob the Builder. No one in her life (relatives, friends, teachers) tells her that she can't enjoy all of these things. On the other hand, she likes to play with all these things while she is dressed as a princess... In Eleanor's class, everyone's favorite thing to do is woodworking, both girls and boys. The only mathematicians she knows are women, so she expects to do well in math as well...