Two Wheels

Luke learned to ride his bike with no training wheels. It happened suddenly, as these things do. One day he asked to take his training wheels off. We told him he could try, figuring we'd put them back on at the end of the night. He took off shakily across the grass. To our surprise and joy, he balanced for about five feet before he fell. He got back on again and again, going further each time before we let him try the sidewalk.

It wasn't the TV bike riding moment I'd always envisioned, where I would hold on to the back of the bike, then let go before he knew it and watch him ride away without him realizing he was doing it all on his own.

Instead, he yelled at me to let go of his bike because he was ready to go without me. Only, I wasn't ready to let go.


Now he rides like he never even had training wheels. He took one really bad spill where there's a patch of gravel. He had gravel in his arms, legs, even his mouth. I walked him crying into the house, washed out his cuts and scrapes with hydrogen peroxide, picked out the gravel, bandaged him up and as soon as I was finished, he sniffed away the tears and said, "Can I get back on my bike?"

There's a lot of lessons to learn in two little wheels.