Sunday, October 27, 2013

Maybelle's big girl bike

Alison pretending to be happy
I'm mostly pretending to be happy here.
For her birthday, my parents got Maybelle an attachment to my bike.  She'd truly outgrown the seat that puts her in front of me, and it was time for something bigger, something that helps train her body to get even more used to the balance that a bike requires, and to the foot motions.  Maybelle's birthday was August 24, and it's now October 27, so I waited more than two months to make this change.

But it's time.  She's too big, the straps on the old seat had dry-rotted and were falling off, and she needs the next step up that will help her to become an independent bike rider one day.

So here we have it:  Maybelle on the WeeRide Co-Pilot (perhaps I shouldn't be giving a shout-out to the brand, but whatever--I'm too tired to be scrutinizing).

It's going to work, but it's somewhat terrifying.  To both me and Maybelle.  Although she's content in this picture, for most of the time we were experimentally riding around, she was screaming.  Shrieking.  Crying.  Wailing.  Really not sounding like someone who was having a good time.  The friend who was helping suggested that it feels like a carnival ride right now, but that by the end of the week Maybelle will be comfortable.

I'm curious as to how this will go for both of us, and for all the drivers on the streets of Charleston.  For this week I'm going to be taking back roads to school as much as I possibly can.  And I'm going to steel myself for three miles of intense shrieking there, and three miles back.  By the time Maybelle gets to school, she's going to be exhausted (as she is right now, at 4:45, asking repeatedly for her bath that precedes going to bed).

5 comments:

  1. I'm sorry, but this totally cracked me up. I think it's the word "shriek" and your steely smile as you pretend to have fun. I'm still cracking up, actually.

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    1. I'm glad for your amusement, Elizabeth. That sounded sarcastic, but I actually am! As many people as possible need to enjoy this so that Maybelle and I will have a happy chorus surrounding us as we make it through this transitional moment.

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  2. If you ever see the camp, Lose the Training Wheels, in your area sign up for it. She can learn to ride a bike for herself in 5 days!!! It was developed for kids, teens and adults with special needs. I did it for my boys and it works.

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  3. for a less terrifying transition (though the price tag scares the bejeezus out of me), I am hoping to get my mitts on one of these brilliant tandems that I've had my eye on for a wee while now, when my youngest reaches bike-a-bility age (he's not even walking yet...)

    http://buddybike.com/

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