My Reason to Celebrate This Mother's Day

Excuse the maudlin moment here, Gentle Reader, but for once, I really feel like a mom worthy of having her own special day. Check this out:

I taught my kid how to ride his bike!

Pretty f'in amazing, isn't it! (Can you tell I'm really thrilled and really proud of him?) I mean, he's been on the training wheels for, like, three years--and it only took us two real sessions to get him riding on his own.

And he's only got one little scrape on his chin from the learning. That in itself is a major coup, if you ask me, Gentle Reader. I seem to recall scraping up my knees pretty good. Moreover, when the boy was learning to walk and for quite a while thereafter, he forever had a goose egg on one temple or the other.

Granted, the boy hasn't yet mastered getting himself started, but he faces a fairly serious obstacle: Even with the bike seat at its lowest point, the boy can just get his tippy toes on the ground. Without being able to really plant his feet, he really can't get a good push off to get himself going. Oh well, that'll happen eventually.

He also needs some more practice steering--and avoiding obstacles. The boy has a knack for running into things, unfortunately. Early on, he ran into a fence and almost loosed the small, yappy dogs living behind it. Now granted, the section of fence (I think it was actually the gate) was already loose and propped up with about a foot-tall stack of bricks, which were themselves as much a hazard as the fence itself. As the boy somewhat proudly informed us once the husband and I arrived at the scene of the accident to access the damage, "I hit my privates on the bricks!"

Yup, that's my boy--proud of possible testicular damage.

Despite the injuries (and the potential that the boy will never father any children--which could be a blessing given what a ladies' man he's always been), I really, really feel like I accomplished something positive as a parent to my son today, so I feel like I'm worthy now of being honored on Mother's Day. Rock!

And speaking of rocking, here's Biker Boy in action. Enjoy!