Tuesday, April 8, 2008

“Mommy wrecked my bike!”

When did my son get to the age where he tells all of my secrets? How is it possible? He can’t be growing up!!

The weather in Southeastern Illinois was just beautiful yesterday. So, after I picked my son up from daycare, we spent a little time outside playing. He wanted to practice peddling his bike. Now for those of you who have never tried to teach a three-year-old to ride a bike, let me just tell you, extreme patience is required!!! Several times throughout the experience I had to remind myself to relax. I caught myself sounding more like a drill sergeant, than a loving mother.

“Look where you are going! Peddle, peddle hard! No, don’t peddle backwards, that puts on the brake and makes the bike stop!” (Like a three-year-old has a clear understanding of the concept of backwards and forwards peddling. I needed a reality check on that one!) I had to remind myself that it really would be okay if he didn’t master the feat in one day of practice. The sun was not going to fall from the sky if he didn’t get it today.

As my beautiful and determined little boy kept working hard, I realized that possibly the seat on the bike was a little too low for optimal performance to be accomplished. I thought that if I would raise it up a bit, it could make the peddling easier for him. So, off to the garage we went. I tried to get the screw loose to move that seat, but no luck.

However, I did manage to allow the bike to fall off of the table where I had placed it to try to work on it, and when it hit the ground one of the training wheels broke off. My son looked up at me and said, “Mommy you wrecked my bike!” Now what could I say to that? It was true, I had wrecked his bike. Although he was a little sad, he must have been tired out, because when I told him that I would make sure that his bike got fixed and we would practice again another day, he didn’t put up much of a fuss.

What added insult to my injured pride at not being able to help my son by raising that bike seat, was that when my husband called from out of town last night, the first thing my son wanted to share was how “Mommy wrecked my bike!” Then I had to reveal the whole story to my husband and share with him how painfully inadequate I have become with a wrench! Now I guess I’m going to have to stay out of the garage and away from the hand tools. Just think of the damage I could have done if say, “I had decided to change the oil in my vehicle or rotate my tires?”

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