An Opportunity to Exercise My Patience

My hubby and I had the sad realization the other day that we aren't as good of parents as we thought we were.  See our son is 4 years old and we haven't taught him to ride a bike or to swim.

So, we decided it was time to get the boy a bike.

Hubby thought a consignment shop was a good idea, because why spend a butt load of money when you don't have to.  I must admit I wasn't as thrilled about this idea.  Mainly b/c I am lazy and the idea of dragging three kids in and out of consignments shops was less than appealing.

But I did it.

Friday we hit 2 Goodwills and one Salavation Army.

I thought for sure as I loaded the kids back into their car seat and we headed to the last store that all of our hard work would pay off.

We entered the car bike-less.

At this point, I felt like I had gone the distance and was about to plead my case and suggest we just go to Walmart.

But Monday on a whim, I thought I'd try one more Good Will Superstore.  This way I would have exhausted all my options.

We hit the mother load!!!!  I left with a bike for my son and a bike that I can push behind for my daughter.  All for a grand total of $14.84.  I was now thrilled with Good Will and thought my hubby was brilliant.

And to top it off, they had a motorcycle bike.  My son has been enamored by the motorcycles on our street for as long as I can remember.  While it isn't the shiny red radio flyer that I imagined buying for my son, he is super happy and it cost $10.

Thinking my patience had paid off, I set off for our fun little bike ride.  Son on his motorcycle bike, daughter on her tricycle, baby in my arms and me pushing my toddler on said tricycle.

OK.

Easier.Said.Than.Done.

The tricycle is not the clever little invention I thought it was.  It is basically like one of those driver's ed cars only the teacher doesn't have the master control and is just strapped along for the ride.  While I can push her, she can still steer, and I can't... So while holding my constantly wriggling 1 year old I am also trying to keep our two year old on a straight course.  Meanwhile my son still needs help on his bike and while the motorcycle is kinda cute I swear it must make it weigh an extra 10 lbs.  He will peddle about 3 pedals before he inevitably sees a car (albeit 1/2 mile down the street) and heads for the side of the road coming to a complete stop.  He then loses momentum and can't get started back up again, so while holding my bucking bronco adorable one year old with one hand, and pulling against my 2 year old to get her tricycle to the side of the road, I am also trying to give the motorcycle a push.  Can't tell you how many times the two of them banged into the sides of each other.

I am not exaggerating when I tell you that it took us 15 min to get 2 houses down from ours.

We spent 30 minutes riding bikes and we made it down two houses to the left of our house, turned around (this took a good 10 minutes) and then past our house 2 houses to the right before ending up in our driveway.  Add in the time it took us to get in and out of the house and it was a good 45 minute endeavor.

A few times I considered abandoning ship and going inside till Daddy came home.  The house looked oh so inviting as we passed it.

But the look on my son's face as he peddled down our street was worth every minute of it.  He was delighted and so proud.  When he got on a roll and peddled a good 6 peddles in succession, he was elated!  "Mom, look how fast I'm going!"  And my daughter loved, "bite ri'en" like a big kid. 

Amazingly with each time out riding, it has gotten a little easier than that first attempt..  I found a side street with no traffic and "not too steep" hill.  It is the answer to my woes b/c I can actually put my baby down to walk and my son can practice sustaining momentum as he peddles back up the hill.  We had a funny exchange as he rode up and down the hill.  I'd encourage him not to stop because he would then lose his momentum going up the hill.  As he rode down, he'd say, "Mom is it on me?"  "Do I got it?"  Then as he'd peddle back up and get stuck and need a push start he'd tell me, "Mom, I lost that stuff you said I had."  "Mom, it's gone."  He kept forgetting the word momentum.  When he reached the crest of the hill and couldn't get started he said to me, "Mom, I'm outta gravity!"

So, I'll go out again tomorrow with all three kids. While they exercise their legs, I will exercise my patience and it'll be energy well spent for all of us.