Back in the Saddle.

Last week, before the trike-a-thon, I suggested we take a little bike ride around the "short loop" in the neighborhood so Lily could get some practice on her bike.  I was feeling adventurous and wanted to see if Tyler could handle riding on the tag-a-long bike so off we went.

I was nervous as all get out with Tyler on the back!  His feet just  reached the pedals.   He was so excited to be riding with me.  I went really slow (for his sake and mine) and he did really good back there!  I don't think he's ready for a ride that's more than about 1/2 mile long or on actual roads - or maybe it's me that's not ready because it's pretty stressful.  He is only 2.5 years old. 

All was going really well.   And then we hit about the half way point.  Lily was riding on the sidewalk in front of me.  I was giving her wide berth and was about 30 yards behind her.  She was flying - well flying is relative, but she was going pretty fast for a newby bike rider - and were we approaching a left turn.  She got nervous, saw the turn and forgot to brake - tried to turn and crashed.  I saw this coming about 10 seconds ahead of time but it was just too late for me to do anything....I watched helplessly as she fell to the ground.  Mommy heart broken.

She skinned her knee pretty good, scraped up her hands and hit her head.  Check out the photo of her on the bike - you'll see her helmet is loose and catty wompus on her head.  She did that because it was "too tight."  Well when she fell, the helmet did her no good because it was sitting too far back on her head.  Mommy guilt pangs ensued when I saw a little bit of road rash on her forehead.  I learned a lesson about making sure the helmet was actually secured properly before we take off.

Anyway, now for the silver lining.  Since Lily's injuries were just some scrapes, Joel and I gently encouraged her to get back on the bike.  She cried and was upset for about 5 minutes.  Mostly cause she was scared and little shocked from the crash.  But after about 5 minutes, Joel convinced her to just sit on the bike.  She did.  Still pretty upset and insisting she didn't want to ride anymore.  But Joel kept encouraging her and got her to just pedal a few feet.  Then got her to pedal a little more.  And after about another 5 minutes, she was riding again. 

I.  Was.  So.  Proud.  And I told her so about 47 times as we completed the short loop and made our way back home.  I think she learned a couple really valuable lessons.  Some practical like SLOW DOWN before you turn on your bike and some with life long applicability like when you fall, you can be brave and get right back in the saddle.