All Growed Up

OMG! My baby is riding his bike!!!

Now, some people might think that this is not a momentous occasion. Some people might think that a seven year old should have been riding with the training wheels off for a couple of years by now.

Well those people can bite me!

Boy Pop is a smidge uncoordinated. The tae kwon do helps immensely, yes, and his balance has improved by leaps and bounds. But whenever he'd get on anything with wheels, he'd lean. Lean. And I do mean LEAN. It was as though he'd just list to one side or the other and not sit up straight.

So we started the tae kwon do. And we encouraged him to ride his scooter. And we took the training wheels off his old bike. And then got him a new bike. A cool bike. A DIRT BIKE!

And he'd get on those things, and lean. And fall. And if he didn't fall off his scooter, he didn't coast on it, either. And while we would still push him on riding the scooter, we sort of put the bike away in a corner.

Dr Pop and I talked about it. It was frustrating for us that he could not do it. But we held off. We decided to let him work on his balance on the scooter first. And he mastered the scooter. He's been riding it to and from school twice a week, every week, since the start of school. He has been so proud of himself!

But the bike. It just sat there. Untouched. Unmoved.

Then one day, a few months ago, Dr Pop came across this new motorized go cart thing by Razor. Man! This thing was cool! It was all he could do to not buy it immediately.

But he didn't. We decided that the next thing Boy Pop would ride/drive would be his bicycle. Once he got it down, then, and only then, would we consider getting him anything with a motor (He had one of those battery-powered Corvettes, but never drove it because we had nowhere good to take it... Just sold it in the garage sale).

Then Boy Pop saw the go kart. And fell in love. And we told him the deal. Bike next. And then? Nothing. He didn't push it, and neither did we.

Until last Thursday after school. We went out and practiced. He did okay. He tried to give up, but then... Didn't. He sat up straight. It was a start. He needed help with pushing off and getting his initial balance, but it was a good start.

And then? Yesterday after school, he tried again. After a few starts and stops, trials and errors, and a couple of stumbles, he got it. He pushed off by himself, gained his balance (a little wobbly at first) and just... Went.

Dr Pop captured the moment on his phone.

We are ridiculously proud of our boy and the perseverance he showed!