Bored Housewives Network

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Monday, April 10, 2006

She did it her way...



Well, despite my reservations Finn - the sunshine of my life - learned to ride a bike and she did her very own way. Basically, I was cut out of the deal. She refused to let me hold on the back of her bike and run alongside her. She informed me pointblank that she didn't trust me. Fair enough. She's seen enough movies to know that I was going to let go of the bike as soon as she built up enough speed and she was having none of it. Instead, she found herself a very small hill in the graveyard across the street from our house and for three hours straight she walked her bike up the incline and rolled down. Up and down, over and over again, red-faced and furious she kept at it.

When I gently suggested we take a break for dinner she very nearly tore a strip off of me - only our tenuous mother-child-respect arrangement prevented her from really telling me off. This was not the ideal experience I remembered from my own youth. There was a lot of whining and carrying on. At one point she actually yelled at the wind. Seriously. She stopped her bike and turned to face the breeze blowing her way and screamed "Stupid wind! I hate you!" Of course there were people nearby. Why wouldn't there be? Any advice I offered was recv'd with a scowl and basic frustrated carrying-on. It was terrible and familiar. I remembered how I screamed at my mother when she tried to teach me how to drive. I made a mental note to buy her something shiny for Mother's Day.

The sun was getting lower, it was nearly 6:30 pm and I was plotting to forcibly pull the bike out of her desperate grip when it happened. She was pedaling and pedaling. She went on forever. It was glorious. A wobbling vision of victory and pink streamers. I cheered. She grinned and hooted. We had our cliched moment after all - just not the way I planned it and that actually made it all the better. Nice.

7 Comments:

  • At 7:21 AM, Blogger Tallis Ford said…

    Woo hoo Finn! That's pretty exciting not only that she figured out how to ride a bike, but that she showed some serious moxie along the way. Although i'm a novice at this parenting-gig, it seems like the best fun comes when they insist on doing something their own way-- showing their elders up the whole time.

    Your posts about bike riding brought back a lot of memories for me of learning to ride a bike. I do have the halo-ringed memory of my Dad out there working with me evening after evening, running along beside me, adjusting my training wheels, etc. But i also have the evil memory of riding around in the school parking lot while my mom talked to her mom friends. I could ride my bike sans training wheels but i couldn't start or stop on my own. I was desperate to stop and was calling my mom for help over and over but she either didn't hear me or didn't choose to hear me and i finally crashed into one of those lumps of concrete at the end of a parking space and fell over. It wasn't pretty and i was very indignant (as an only child i was generally paid attention to when i requested it).

     
  • At 8:35 AM, Blogger Cataclysm said…

    Yahoooooo Finn!!! Wonderful!!

    "Serious moxie" (Tamra's words)indeed!!! Watch out world! After this bike thing, I think Finn ought to turn her attention to solving global warming - that'll keep her entertained for a couple of days - then maybe on to the energy crisis...

    And LOVE the pic - "Born to be Wild" was playing in my head when I saw it!
    Kris

     
  • At 10:23 AM, Blogger landismom said…

    congratulations!

     
  • At 11:10 AM, Blogger Erin O'Brien said…

    News Alert!

    It is never going to go the way we think it will with kids.

    Hmm ...

     
  • At 11:33 AM, Blogger Tammy said…

    Yay, Finn! I feel that a velocipedal celebration of some sort is in order. Hm?

     
  • At 7:09 PM, Blogger Melissa said…

    Aw! I love hearing Finn stories. She sounds like such a determined girl. Love that!

     
  • At 11:02 AM, Blogger Anne-Marie said…

    I love love love this post - thank you so much! I was silently cheering her on as she went down the hill (as to not advise boss that was not exactly doing productive work!) and laughed when she cursed the wind - damn wind! It'll get ya every time...

    Looking forward to fun times like this - closest I've gotten is cheering Sam on when he finally pulls up, legs shaking, breaking a sweat. 'Tis hard work, this getting around...

     

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