Hands Off

Saturday afternoon - another trip to the park. Going to the park means getting Grant on his bike. Getting Grant on his bike means another lesson in patience for me and another lesson in bike riding for him.

I can't believe it's been over a year since I first wrote about teaching Grant to ride. In that year, we have made incredibly little progress on his bike. At least we hadn't lost anymore of our progress, and for that I am thankful.

But Saturday, we did it. We made progress. I should say, Grant made progress because it's really all on his shoulders at this point. I've made my peace with knowing that it's just going to take a long time and it's got to come with his own desire and on his terms.

For well over a year now, he has insisted that I keep my hand on the bike while he's riding. If I took it off, he would either stop riding or start crying. So every so often I move my hand just off the handle bar so that he knows my hand is there but at the same time he knows I'm not touching it.

On Saturday, though, he let me take my hand off the bike. For almost the whole way to the park and then the whole way home, he was ok with me running along side of him. He let out a few squeals and reached for me a couple of times, but they were just half-hearted attempts. He was ok with it. I could see that he was comfortable on the bike for the first time in a long while.

Oh for the day when he can focus continuously on his riding so that he doesn't veer off the path, the day when I can ride along side of him, the day when we take the training wheels off again, the day when he truly realizes the freedom of riding his bike. Until then, we'll keep riding and learning, together.