Milo Rides His Bike and Takes One More Step Towards Leaving Me Forever

Milo learned to ride a bike amazingly quickly, with no training wheels used.  I think this is because he'd already learned how to balance from using his scooter, skiing and ice skating.  While running and kicking a ball are definitely not his strong suit (he got beaten in a race with a four year old girl yesterday at the gym and cried until I explained to him that I'd never beaten anyone in a foot race in my entire life, and perhaps am the slowest human being on the planet) he seems to have a knack for sports that involve grace and balance.

Oddly, he also seems to have some kind of innate understanding of where his skills lie.  He begged us for a bike for nearly a year before we finally relented - we feared he was going to find it frustrating and wanted him to be a bit older to handle the tumbles and scrapes that come with bike ownership, and made him agree that there would be no crying if we did buy him the bike - but he knew what he was talking about.  From the time we purchase the bike three weeks ago until this video was taken yesterday,  Milo worked and worked at riding the bike until he got it.  There were some tears and scrapes along the way, but astonishingly few.

There is something very symbolic and fraught about teaching your child to ride a bike.  I think most people remember learning to ride, as opposed to learning to walk or talk, so most of us have it as an early child-parent memory.  I remember very clearly the fear, the exhilaration of getting it, and then the pain of riding straight into a parked car because I'd forgotten how to brake.  But more than that, to teach your child to ride you must take a giant leap of faith at some point and quite literally let go and let them attempt to do it on their own.  I found this nearly impossible - how could I let my baby just go flying off down the street without me?  Luckily, Steven was able to do it, and here's the beautiful, bittersweet result: