paloma vs. bicycle

more than a gazillion times a day i feel that i am a failure as a parent... a couple of days ago however - i felt like a superhero... thanks, paloma, i love you and i'm SO PROUD of you! :') just when i (sadly) thought i wouldn't be experiencing too many more firsts...



of course, paloma really did all the work... clearly. and this REI video helped the both of us IMMENSELY...

we've been struggling for SO long to try to teach paloma to ride a bike... and until a couple of days ago... it never even occurred to me to look for resources online... both the thin man and i had learned "the hard way" with all the requisite falls and cuts/scrapes...

my mom and papa never taught me how to ride. i don't think either of them know how... my lola (grandmother) kept advising against it, worried that i'd... wait for it.... LOSE MY VIRGINITY... (i didn't find this out until later) is that an old filipino superstition?? i dunno...

the one time my mom tried to ride a bike, she fell into a bank of bushes of a neighboring house and got yelled at... it took the whole summer for those ridiculous bushes to grow out the human shaped impression my mom made... *snort* :)

i remember waking up at 5 am one morning in grade school... i woke up before my mom and lola, on a saturday, because i didn't want them to worry or stop me... and i just started pedaling up and down the block until i got it, a handful of hours later to my mom's glee and my lola's cautious praying... :)

when we took off paloma's training wheels, she just kept falling and each fall seemingly chipped away at what little confidence she had about the whole situation... . we eased off and the bike sat dusty in the garage...

it'd been so long since we tried to teach her again that she'd outgrown her old bike. we found a great used bike (for a fantastic price - actually so did porkchop and me) at play it again sports - wrigleyville. i asked the salesperson if training wheels could be added and he suggested that we not put training wheels and just take the pedals off... and automatically, i thought, "really?? i'll have to look that up..." duh. NOW? i think about looking it up... serious placenta dementia, no?? :)

i'm so thankful for that salesperson and the REI video and all the helpful advice/positive reinforcement!

soooo looking forward to riding bikes with my (not so) little girl!!!!

WwwwwHEEEeeee!!!