a mama's touch

It seems to be a pretty common parenting experience to have some pretty intense emotion around the whole teaching kids to ride a bike thing. I'm no different.

The weather has been beautiful this week, it seems like maybe summer is really arriving. Bumble Bee has been doing pretty well on her bike (with training wheels), so yesterday I suggested that we take a trip to the bank, which is about a mile from our house. Bumble Bee on her bike, me pushing the stroller while Monkey checks out all the scenery and munches green puffs. I was smart enough to leave the dog at home.

I had my doubts. I also had my hopes.

I was running to keep up, the whole way there. It was the quintessential proud mama moment. She was zooming. And she wanted to be in front. "Let me go first!" Not a single fall. To cap it all off, most of the ride I heard an exuberant "Rrrrrrrrrrr!" coming from her. Making zooming noises really does make you go faster, you know.

I kept asking, the whole way there, how are you feeling? Do you think you can pedal a lot farther? Will you be able to turn around and go home?

Yes, she said.

This story could turn into a hilarious account of me attempting to push a (non-jogging) stroller while dragging along a bike and a tired out cranky three year old. That might actually be a funnier and more impressive blog post.

Thankfully for me, that's not what happened.

We made it to the bank, and you've never seen someone more excited to use the fancy machine to make a deposit (Bumble Bee, not me, of course).

We lolled on a grassy spot for a few minutes, eating string cheese and fruit leather and guzzling water. It was hot!

And then we started back. Bumble Bee was a little slower, but still pretty perky. Until...

"Mys all done."

"Oh, nope, you can't be all done. If you don't pedal we have no way to get your bike home. We can go slower and take breaks if we need to, but you have to keep pedaling. You can do hard things." (I started saying this to Bumble Bee after reading a few blog posts. Great motto for kids who are prone to saying "I can't do it.")

The best part came when we were about half way home. She had resolved herself to riding, and was doing AWESOME. We came to a little hill and she leaned forward over the handle bars and grunted, and I could tell it was hard.

I gently placed my hand on her back and gave a slight push. Up the hill she went. I really didn't even push her, just left my hand on her back. At the top I took my hand off. I was pushing Monkey in the stroller, after all.

A few paces farther.

"Mama? Put your hand on my back please?"

That was my moment. We rode most of the rest of the way home like that. Bumble Bee pedaling hard, my hand resting on her back. Not helping really, just assuring her that I was there, that I believe in her ability to do this.

And because I am me and like to get philosophical at odd times, I thought - this is parenting, right here. Baby, I will be with you every step of the way, through whatever comes in your life. You have to do the work, and sometimes it will be hard, painful work. But I will put my hand on your back and remind you that I am always and forever on your team.

In the end, she made it the whole way. I was bursting. (A really cool blogger would have a picture to post here, but I still do not have a smart phone and the camera on my little thing is pretty bad. Someday I will remember to bring our real camera on outings like this.)

Hard work, plus a mama's hand. And a chocolate chip cookie waiting for her at home didn't hurt anything either.