Firsts: bike edition

I tried to be as inconspicuous as possible but the grin kept sneaking back onto my face.

It's a really ugly little bike. The colors are faded from the thousands of tiny bums that rotate in and out of the seat. The handle bars are something out of a germophobic parent's nightmare. If you look closely you can see the surface slightly wriggling. And the lack of ANY bells or stickers or buttons to push clearly identifies it as being from the early to mid 1990s.

Still, it's the only bike at the rec center and that makes it the most sought after toy among the 2-3 year old set at Open Gym. Sometimes there are tears.

It had been in the possession of an older little boy for most of the morning. We threw the ball around for a bit and Owen took a turn on the rocking police carboat. He kept an eye on it though and when it was free began his slow walk over. Owen never runs full force toward the object of his desire. He keeps it slow and looks around to see if any other kids are making a move at the same time. Not one for trouble, he tends to defer to more agressive kids, regardless of size.

This time he's unchallenged. It's a light day and most of the kids are early walkers - not yet interested in going fast.

As usual he begins to push himself around a la Fred Flinstone. And after a bit, as usual, I recommend giving the pedals a try. No pressure or anything but they really do help you go faster.

Something clicked and I could see the shock on his face as his feet actually started moving in sync with the bike. Push, push, push....pedalpedalpedalpedal. Push, push, push...pedalpedalpedalpedalpedal.

I kept my surprise in check and played it cool with one quick "There you go!" so as not to scare off the moment (or the other parents).

But as he sped off to the other side of the gym I couldn't quite stop the smile from spreading itself across my face.