RIDING FREE: Last week at our park, C.J. came up to me with a strident request. "Daddy, take my training wheels off."
Okay, fine, I thought. The boy's only four years, four months old. But if he wants 'em off, well then, off they'll come. It'll be good for him to learn about falling and, even more important, about getting back up.
First try the kid zooms across the park, no prob, no wrecks. He can do it. (Granted, there was a minor crash a few days later. "Daddy, I crashed the pole and hurt my wee-wee.")
After his Wild Ride he is exultant. And he has another request:
"Daddy, now I want a trophy."
"A what?"
"A trophy, for being a big rider."
"Okey-doke."
So we went online and found a trophy shop. He picked out the one he wanted. "That big one!" And he helped me write the inscription:
"C.J. Hess Rides a Bike Without Training Wheels, August 15, 2006."
It showed up in the mail yesterday, and it hasn't been out of his hands since.
I wonder if it'll be in his dorm room or office someday.
12 comments:
If he is anything like you or your dad, it will remain in his collection of "important relics of the past" for a lifetime. Three cheers for CJ and the solo bike ride, it's such an exhilirating feeling.
Tell CJ, Aunt Laurel and the cousins say, "Way to go!" Horray for riding like a big boy. Just wait, if he's anything like his cousins, the next thing he will want to do it ride with no hands, ride while standing up, and ride with someone else on the handlebars. Then he will want a bike with "flames" painted on it because, of course, everybody knows, those bikes go the fastest. Oh, and making big long skid marks on the sidewalk...that's key. Don't worry, if he doesn't figure out how to do that soon on his own, Stevie will come to the big city to teach him.
Glad to see your posting again. Missed the dailey fodder.
L.
A funny thing of late: Licky has figured out how important the trophy is to C.J., and he's looking for any opportunity he can find to swipe it and run away. Funny, but also a pain in the ass, since big brother C.J. goes into a blind rage when Licky makes off with his trophy. Some days it's more like having two dogs than two kids, the way they scrap.
Solution to Mikey's taking CJ's trophy is figuring out something that Mikey can do to earn a trophy, then they will each have one, and that will be healthy for both of them.
I hear you, Mom, but it's not as if Mikey knows it's a "trophy," or has any idea what a trophy represents. He takes it 'cause CJ likes it. Mikey has plenty of things he likes, but CJ's treasured possessions seem to trump all of them. Mikey clearly enjoys getting CJ's goat, and he's expert at it already. CJ, perhaps like his father, is too dumb to know his buttons are being pushed, and he goes off like Mt. Vesuvius at the slightest provocation. He spent some time in exile this morning as a result.
His new haircut rules, btw. He looks like a mini-Lance Armstrong.
I am sure that Mikey doesn't know that it is a trophy, but if you get him something that seems similar to CJ's and make sure you give it to him and make a big deal over it, he will probably begin to understand that it makes him as big a deal as his brother, and you might even find then that CJ wants to look at Mikey's trophy, or they can learn that they may each handle each other's prize and everything will still be okay. I know it is a little early for Michael, but start the lessons early and they will grasp the concepts.
maybe cj will give us another excuse to head to alaska and wait for him at the finish line of a long bike ride for a good cause. hopefully at that point, however, the pledge dollars will no longer be needed for aids but will go towards something like improving education or saving the puppies or whatnot.
Maybe we should get mom a trophy for always using the mom-knows-best approach at solving any of your trophy problems.
I'd like to offer a trophy to Scott as well for realizing that his sons are living through the same dynamic that he and his button-pushing brother Eric used to live through.
I'd also like to offer Laurel a trophy for consistently missing the proper use of "your" in her post in which she meant "you're", as in "you plus are."
Paula actually still has a half dozen or so trophies on our second floor I'd looove to get rid of. If you don't mind a Trophy with a random dancer or eagle on it, we'll be happy to mail them.
Casey, it's not wise to make fun of the person you are counting on to come and help you out after the birth of your baby. And, Michael could receive one of Paula's trophies for his expert twirling and he would be happy.
Perhaps I really did intend it to read "your", as in "your posting", posting that is yours. You will never know, will you?
L.
That's pretty impressive. Did he have the Lance Armstrong haircut before the ride, or was that after?
Can't remember which came first, the haircut or the ride. Good question...
I can assure you he's riding clean, though, Dave. We're an anti-doping family.
Post a Comment