Balancing act

Saturday, Eddie and Chas had friends over. (We watched them and next weekend their parents will watch Eddie and Chas. The kids love spending time together and the grown-ups actually get to go do grown up things. Like shop.)

Anyway, as part of the marathon of outdoor fun, we got all confident and took the training wheels off one of the bikes. Lo and behold, Eddie can ride with no training wheels. He can't really start on his own -- we've got to work on that. But he does great once he's rolling. His friend's parents were so impressed that I got a call from them today: Their son is now doing it.

Chas, ever the cautious child, is not so keen on trying this yet. I gotta say, I understand. I was a very aged 6 years old when I first learned to ride sans training wheels. I remember I felt so old and ashamed. And it took what seemed like an entire day of my dear old dad running along beside me. But in retrospect, I doubt it was more than an hour. We celebrated by getting dangly streamers and a horn for my bike. Oh, and I skinned more knees on my bike than I care to remember. Eddie, for his inaugural attempts, was fitted with elbow and knee pads (mostly because he was wearing shorts). Oh, and always a helmet -- something I never even heard of as a kid. Despite the fact that they will be the only kids on the street who wear 'em, the boys have known since they first got on a trike that helmets are required for people in this household. It's one of the few rules I know without a doubt I'm going to be a hard ass about. Too many years of covering crime and safety for me to do otherwise.