Such were the lyrics by Queen that my son sang as he reached a pretty big milestone this evening...riding a bike without training wheels.
Decked out in his Cars (Lightning McQueen) bicycle helmet, Daniel jumped on his bike just as daylight began to fade away...dying to give it one last try before nightfall. His little legs wobbled to and fro--desperately trying to stabilize himself as he roared down the incline in the middle of our driveway.
"Bicycle! Bicycle!, I want to ride my bicycle..." he sang at the top of his lungs as he tried over and over to get the peddles spinning while keeping himself upright. The last drops of sunlight were illuminating the road as it happened. Our son, asking only for a "little push power, Mommy" took off toward his father...shirt tail flapping in the wind and his tiny legs peddling as fast as they could. Wobbly--yes. Irratic--yes. But, upright and all by himself. He did it.
My boy. My little man whose marks on the primitive growth chart on our utility room wall get higher and higher with each passing month. The boy who, a few years ago had never heard a drop of English...or had never seen a bicycle... this boy is writing his name and singing all the words to the Grease 2 soundtrack and, yes, just managed to ride a 2-wheeled bicycle around the full perimeter of our cul-de-sac.
Where does it go? Time, that is. It's only been three years since we've had him but now he's about to start kindergarten and...before we know it...one day we'll look beside us to find a grown young man standing there. His slightly darker hair and trademark brown eyes will be the only recognizable features of the scared young child we first saw that day... and, instead of a shiny red bicycle, it will be a car that he drives away in... hair blowing in the breeze... hand waving out the window, "Goodbye..."
OK. I have made myself cry.
Going to bed now.
It was a good day.
Decked out in his Cars (Lightning McQueen) bicycle helmet, Daniel jumped on his bike just as daylight began to fade away...dying to give it one last try before nightfall. His little legs wobbled to and fro--desperately trying to stabilize himself as he roared down the incline in the middle of our driveway.
"Bicycle! Bicycle!, I want to ride my bicycle..." he sang at the top of his lungs as he tried over and over to get the peddles spinning while keeping himself upright. The last drops of sunlight were illuminating the road as it happened. Our son, asking only for a "little push power, Mommy" took off toward his father...shirt tail flapping in the wind and his tiny legs peddling as fast as they could. Wobbly--yes. Irratic--yes. But, upright and all by himself. He did it.
My boy. My little man whose marks on the primitive growth chart on our utility room wall get higher and higher with each passing month. The boy who, a few years ago had never heard a drop of English...or had never seen a bicycle... this boy is writing his name and singing all the words to the Grease 2 soundtrack and, yes, just managed to ride a 2-wheeled bicycle around the full perimeter of our cul-de-sac.
Where does it go? Time, that is. It's only been three years since we've had him but now he's about to start kindergarten and...before we know it...one day we'll look beside us to find a grown young man standing there. His slightly darker hair and trademark brown eyes will be the only recognizable features of the scared young child we first saw that day... and, instead of a shiny red bicycle, it will be a car that he drives away in... hair blowing in the breeze... hand waving out the window, "Goodbye..."
OK. I have made myself cry.
Going to bed now.
It was a good day.
3 comments:
I was browsing around on the blog site and found your post. I read alot of it. I like the WLC and wish you the best of luck with it. We all have a green and black dress hanging in our closet, or just a black dress, or a red dress or whatever. Anyway, Good Luck.
This is awesome! Go D Man!!! (BTW, you made me tear up as well.)
Katie,
How exciting that Daniel learned to ride his bicycle. I agree with you time goes by way to fast and the next thing you know the kids are all grown up. Jonathan will be a sophmore next year and is already talking about college in Rodchester, NY (the have a great program at RIT for the deaf), and we have Nathan who is almost in 3rd grade and reading like a pro, it's amazing to see them learn new things and become who they are. Noah on the other hand is now 17 month old and he amazes us everyday with something new, his vocabulary, his climbing skills, etc... Life is to short and 40 is fast approaching......YIKES!
Shannon
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