Il Bambino e Mobile

The other day, young Ian rode without training wheels for the first time. I know it has taken us awhile to get to this point, but I'm very happy for him.

About a year ago, Ian had taken his bicycle to church to ride during lunch, and I was helping him while also talking to a colorful Russian musician. Said musician didn't show too much interest in the project at the time, but later that day, I got an information-packed email from him that began something like, "Is it presumptuous of me to tell you, the father of three fine children, how to teach your son to ride his bicycle?" [he's also a teacher] and then, just in case it wasn't presumptuous, he proceeded with several rich, very detailed paragraphs about how to go about the task. Honestly, it wasn't offensive at all, and I'm glad that he did it; I just just a bit tickled by the format of the communique.

The other evening, Ian decided to take his bike out, and I took a wrench with a felt, violet handle out of Amy's felt violet tool-box (yes, even tool boxes are "gendered" these days), tightened the handle bars to the frame of the bike, and then started pronouncing out loud the principles behind the email of almost a year ago, even invoking the author's name in explaining to Ian what I was doing. More importantly, I only followed one step - the first one - but that was enough. The email had said that balancing is the most important thing, so I should help him balance without actually moving. It hadn't occurred to me that such a thing was possible, but I encouraged Ian to attempt it, which he did... On the first try, Ian was zipping down the driveway and out into the street, by all measures riding his bicycle.

We did this a few more times, and then Ian ran into the house to announce the milestone to Mommy, with much yelling and jumping up and down and a high-five. Then Mommy came out to watch all of this mobility on her own (as well as Daniel and Madeleine on their own vehicles, albeit not of the two-wheeled variety). And since Ian is Ian, by the end of the evening, he was standing by as Daniel sat on Ian's bike, holding the seat, and carefully explaining to Daniel the task of learning to balance.

The torch was being passed on, and all because of the initiative of one outgoing music teacher who was not afraid to share his insights.

(May 26, 2011)

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