The Surprise of the Day...in a good way

God knows me...very well. He must remember very clearly the summer of 2008 when I was around 8 months pregnant, trying desperately to teach Lose how to ride her bike. It was, ummm, one of my least lovely moments. She was an excellent balancer, but truly struggled to steer her bike. It seemed to steer her. Either it or she had a magnetic pull to any immovable object such as light poles, trees, fences, water fountains, cars, benches, etc. It didn't matter where she started from, she'd always end up running smack into one of the afore mentioned items. No matter how I tried, I couldn't convince her that she alone held her crashing destiny, or the lack of it, in her own hands by the simple task of steering. I think she ended up being so afraid of again running into one of those things that her eyes would automatically lock in on what she was trying to avoid and as a result she'd drive right into it. I'll never forget watching her little self get whiplashed, again, as she crashed into the cement block at the park that has a water fountain on the top. It was my final straw. Much to her shock, the other girlies' shock, all those park goer's shock, my own shock, and probably not Naki's shock when he was told later on what happened (he knows me too well to be truly shocked), I lost it. I actually picked up her bike and threw it as far as I could. Given my extremely pregnant circumstance, I'd score my bike shotput a '10', for sure. Distance alone was rather impressive. What wasn't impressive was the fact that I did it at all. I try, I really try, but I just do not have as much patience as I should, or as much as the girls require and deserve. Don't worry. She was not permanently scarred from the experience. I hope. She quickly remedied her directional issues and to this day is a fantastic bike rider. I still am ashamed of my irrational temper tantrum.

So to say that I was dreading the day when it would be time for Eli to learn how to ride her bike would be an understatement. Anyone remember my post earlier about those training wheels of hers? Maybe with an understanding of how much I truly wanted her to NOT be needing to be taught how to ride without them would explain a bit of my anger when I couldn't attach them to her bike earlier this year.

This afternoon I decided to again tackle those darn training wheels. Seriously. I'm super annoyed that I STILL didn't get them to tighten enough. What's the deal with this anyway? I know there are plenty of people I could ask to do this, but it seems so simple that I should absolutely be able to do this one alone, unassisted. As I felt the steam beginning to pour from my ears, Eli casually mentioned that I didn't need to worry. She didn't really want them on anyway. She just wanted to learn how to ride without them. She said it so confidently that I am positive she was too young to remember the bike episode of 2008 and didn't know how much I really DID NOT want to go through all of this again. Oh well, I figured. I couldn't avoid it forever. Might as well start now.

Wouldn't you know, with just a little bit of helpful tips and advice, that girl took off! She was so determined, and only fell a couple of times. But really, what a fun experience, especially after dreading it so much. It was such a great surprise. I can't say that I 'taught' her how to ride a bike. She somehow was able to take the tips I told her and immediately apply them. She was so so super excited. It seemed perfect that Lose would be watching the whole thing, cheering her own. Hopefully she wasn't sitting there thinking awful vengeful thoughts about her monster mother.

My favorite thing Eli said about all of this was at the softball fields tonight. She had wanted to bring her bike, but that would only bring out the snowball effect of everyone wanting to bring them. Not only do I not have the ability with the van to bring all the bikes, but then I REALLY wouldn't be able to keep track of them during the game. As she was unloading her scooter in the parking lot, she stood on it, gave a dramatic wobble for effect, and told me "Wow, Mom. I can hardly ride my scooter now that I can ride my bike so well." What a cutie.















I asked Eli to show us how happy she really felt, instead of just a posing smile. This last picture was the result...she's doing a "Yessss!" at the same time. Thank You God, for the miracle that both Eli and I needed.