Ride Hard...

During out last "staycation" we were all bundled up in hotel beds together and we were talking about goals.  New year - New resolutions - New goals.  We told the little thriving ball of humans wrapped in our bed sheets that goals are things you want to work hard to accomplish and a new year is a good time to do it.  We mentioned at some point that goals are usually kind of hard and you have to keep trying to achieve them and sometimes after all that work, it's good to reward yourself.  When we asked our little pack of boys what things they might want to work toward this year (and announced that Acey would be working on being a man and becoming potty trained) the big littles decided that they should learn to ride their bikes without training wheels.  Perfect... onto the family goal sheet it was written and if I had to guess I would have said that MAYBE ten percent of what we said was actually heard.

Enter the whole, "Disneyland conversation".  Now, before I go too much farther let me first bemoan whatever kid it is that sits in Preschool and talks about all his/her trips to Disneyland non-stop.  Up until preschool this year, we had no idea Disneyland even existed and we were happy as clams in our ignorance.  NOW, thanks to this kid and cousins who just got back from the happiest place ever, we are   ALL about Disney.  SO... when we mentioned "rewards for goal achievement" it was a no-brainer... the reward of choice was so clearly a trip to Disneyland to see Lightning and Mater, of course.  Since the hubs and I had been thinking about a vacay to Walt's hood anyway, we sort of just nodded and went with it.

And now that you're all caught up on the development of the story to this point, we arrive at Tuesday of this week.  I was vacuuming the house and told the boys to find a project to do or a game to play.  When I finished I walked out to the garage to find Kaelster and Dax Man hunched over their bikes with a small collection of Dad's tools at their feet.  "What are you guys doing?"  I asked.  And after they shot me pathetic looks like, "Poor girl, isn't it obvious?" they patiently explained that they were taking their training wheels off.  "Cool," I said, and I let them carry on like the little men on a mission that they were.

And then, well, I don't even know what.  It all happened at lightning speed and while I'd like to take even a smidgen of credit for it - I can't.  These little creatures of coordination that live with us, lifted the garage door, saddled up and rode off into the sunset.  I mean, I think I said something in there like, "if you start to lose your balance just put your feet down and walk along side your bike" or something equally obvious, but the truth of the matter is, they just decided they were going to ride their bikes and BAM - they did it.

 

Kaelster was first.  He took off at the top of the driveway and let gravity take him to the bottom and out onto the street and at first his little legs just hung on either side of his blue & yellow "gravel blaster" but eventually those fireman rain boots were pumpin' the pedals and there he be.... My little bike ridin' fool.  He asked me to take a video "to show Daddy!" and then he rode back up to me, dismounted, and said clear as day, "OK, Let's go to Disneyland!"  And come on, what's left to say at that point?

So, like a chicken I said, well now Dax needs to ride his bike.  And like a good brother, Kaelster was there,  "Come on, Daxi - you can do it!  It's not hard.  You just get on your bike and you just start pedaling and then you're riding your bike with no training wheels like me."

Dax was a little bit more cautious.  He watched Kael a few more times and then asked me to hold onto the back of his seat.  He was riding his bike solo the very first trek down the driveway, but he wanted a little security hold just in case.  We did several runs where he rode partially with my grip and partially without and then he took a self-imposed time out and said he would try again tomorrow.  It's like that little man knew his subconscious would work out the last few details overnight because Wednesday?  Well, it was a sweet repeat of the day before and Daximus was all about it, just riding and singing and acting like he'd been doing it his whole life.

There's just something about the way these little men handle life's challenges that inspires me every single day.  They don't over think things, they just do it.  They have fun while they do it.  They are loose and care-free and not afraid to make mistakes and, holy moly, if they don't surprise me nine out of ten times how well it all comes together in what is probably the very fashion they imagined it would.

So, if you were out in the hood these past few days, I apologize profusely for the insane amount of jazz hands and "WAHOOs" and running through the street with the cell phone in hand.  These milestones just seem to be achieved at warp speed around here and I'm doing my best to do my high kicks and celebrations before I'm running to catch up to their next victory.

So, yeah.  Goal achievement.

CHECK.

Disneyland...

Here we come, I guess?!  :)