Friday, March 28, 2008

Teaching Lori how to ride a bike from my wheelchair

Today I picked up my 5 year old daughter, Lori, from daycare. We went home, and I was reading some mail in the car when she pulled out her new bike. Now, this would be challenging any day, but today it was 45 degrees, 5:30 pm, and cloudy. Well, off we go, after I assembled the wheelchair. Thank goodness the neighbors came along with their dog to help her walk her bike down our hill. So, at the bottom of the hill, she started to ride. She's little--her legs barely reach the pedals. And it was slightly uphill. So I would go behind her and give her occasional "bumps." And of course, I was somewhat flipped out by this whole thing--what if she fell, what if she rode into the road, etc.

We got partway around the next cul de sac and all of a sudden, she announced "I'm cold!" Translation: "I'm done." She got off the bike and really was done! I have no idea how she thought the bike was going to get home, but it certainly wasn't with her pushing it! So I actually tried to put this bike with training wheels on my lap! Of course that didn't work so she had to "push" it. The problem was that now we were headed downhill and she didn't understand how to slow or stop the bike. She would run along side it until the bike went off the sidewalk at which point she would have a complete meltdown until I got there and lifted the bike back up on the sidewalk. Whimpering the whole way, we got home! She put her bike in the garage which must have been ordeal because I heard her screaming at the bike (I was a bit behind). I took her on my lap, hugged her, and told her to go inside and get warm.

Of course, she is now over this and happily in bed. I'm still thinking about the whole ordeal. I don't think we'll try that scenerio again!

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