Two wheels

Luke has been bugging us for a while now to teach him to ride his bike without his training wheels. We always have a justifiable reason for putting him off another day. It is hard to give Luke the attention he needs to learn this new skill with Wil and Timothy in tow. When Wil and Timothy are napping, well, I want to be napping, or at least crossing items off my never ending "to do" list. And really, if you must know, I dreaded the inevitable falls. I may have mentioned before that Luke does not handle any degree of injury well. For example he came into the kitchen the other day wimpering about his finger. I tried, I really tried, to see the scratch that was bothering him. I just didn't see it. But he felt it and obsessed over it the rest of the day. His preschool teacher once asked me if he had ever gotten scratched up before. She asked because that particular day at school he fell, scraped his knee, and evidently it was a pretty traumatic scene. She didn't have to explain it to me because I knew all too well what it was like to clean up and comfort Luke after an injury. It is not for the faint of heart. It requires a great deal of patience (which James will tell you I am sorely lacking) and compassion (which I have, until the screams over a splinter cause me to grow cold). All my boys are helping me to work on both of these weaknesses thankyouverymuch. :) The other issue is that I am feeling lazy these days and I just didn't want to deal with Luke falling off a bike. He is comfortable with his training wheels, he can tear up the asphalt, why mess with a good thing? I have too much going on with Wil and Timothy. And then the mother guilt set in. So Luke is going to be put off the rest of his life because his younger brothers demand more? I can just hear the therapy sessions now!

So today, during Wil and Timothy's nap, when Luke asked about learning to ride his bike without the training wheels, I thought to myself, I cannot put him off any longer. So I said, "Go get your dad." And he did. And together we (well, mostly James) taught Luke to ride on two wheels. I wasn't much help at all. My yells to "slow down" or "watch the curb" fell on deaf ears as Luke took off.
And I do mean "took off!" I don't know what I was so worried about. There was no wobbling and weaving or cries from Luke for James not to let go. He was steady and confident and gave his dad a workout as I pled for him to stay close. They went around the block, practiced turning in the cul-de-sac, and then Luke asked if he could ride over to the neigborhood hill.

So we had a big day around here. Luke learned to ride without training wheels and I have learned to let him.

And Wil and Timothy? They are up to the same ole' thing . . .


That is Wil's dinner plate Timothy has in his hand. In the blink of an eye Timothy, who had finished his dinner and was on his way to the bathtub, returned to the table to polish off the remainder of Wil's turkey sandwhich. And then politely handed the plate back to Wil. Maybe they have a scam going and I am just now catching on.

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