Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Pedals

The girls on the block are busy making a nursery for the toy lizard. Abe is tired of the bickering. He finds the pink bike on the sidewalk and climbs on. He sits there. Feet on pedals. Not moving. I give him a little push from the back. He says to me, "Don't push me, Mom." So I don't. I just tell him to push his feet on the pedals, which he does, but gets blocked by a ridge in the sidewalk. So I break my promise and give him a little nudge forward.

I go back to talking to the other grown-ups.
A few minutes later, Abe is slowly slowly slowly creeping down the sidewalk. He's not pushing with his feet on the ground. He's pushing the pedals, propelling himself forward. I try not to draw attention to what he's doing but am finding it hard to resist the urge to cheer loudly, "Look at what my son is doing! Go, Abe, go!" So I go to him and quietly tell him to push harder. And I nudge again the back of the bike.

He picks up speed. At the point, I'm shouting, "Go, Abe! Go, Abe!" Within half an hour, he has gone from inching himself forward to flying so quickly down the street that I have to yell for him t
o slow down. His face is concentrated: eyebrows lifted high, cheeks sucked in just the tiniest bit into a fish-face. His back is perfectly straight, both arms straight out to the side, elbows at 90 degree angles. Such concentration, just a little nerdy. He gets speed and discovers the fun in taking his feet off the pedals and flying flying flying. Sometimes he sticks his tongue out. Then he notices me watching him, and he lets slip a crooked, shy smile. He is proud. I am proud.

I can't bear it. Every time I see that little sucked-in cheeks fish-face, oh my heart. It's breaking from the love of this boy. This spin on our neighbor's pink bike with training wheels is a first. I got to see it. I got to see it. One of the best moments of my life.


13 comments:

Ms. Fricknfrack said...

My heart practically burst reading this. Love.

Christine said...

That face is adorable. That would make me wild with love, too.

Jill said...

oh, so cute and so grown up. i showed peyton before she left for school and she said "abe needs a helmet." :)

Julie said...

Oh Lori! I love him on that pink bike! Go Abe!

Evelyn said...

Beautiful post. Abe's concentrated look is adorable!

Gretchen said...

ABE!!! Such big, big news! I so heart this picture, so heart this moment....

Sara said...

I remember the learning to walk video. Now he's bike riding?! Where does the time go? Way to go Abe!

los cazadores said...

This made my heart suck in it's cheeks. And sigh out with joy.

Awesome for Abe.


Cindy

Stacie said...

Oh happy mama heart!!! Love this!

kristine said...

So beautiful! He and your writing. Brought tears to my eyes (I swear this doesn't happen often!)

What better love?

The Busters said...

Go Abe!! What an awesome photo. I love the expression on his face!

Anonymous said...

Priceless picture. Such a fun post to read. He's the best!

Calmil2 said...

Seriously filled my eyes with tears...Go Abe Go!!!