A Boy and His Bike.

Over the past couple of weeks Kaileb's bike has had various problems. That bike was the one he learned how to ride on two wheels, without hands, and go over (small) jumps with.  It was given to us years ago brand new from someone in our church in Oregon. A blessing for sure. A gift that was used everyday unless this mama decided he might catch a cold or fall on a patch of ice that day.

Two weeks ago the chain broke. A few days later it fell off again. Nick was away and I know nil about fixing bikes, so one of our neighbors was kind enough to give it a "makeover" as Kaileb said. Airing up it's tires, tightening things, and making it shine. A week later, the tire tube blew out. His grandpa kindly replaced that and 2 days later his tire had a gaping hole. When Nick came home, I made my case for a new bike.

We set out to get something that would last a long time. Something that can be passed on to his brother when he moves on again.  Once he set his eyes on the shiny blue bike I don't think we had a choice! We don't make large purchases that often for our children, mostly because we've never needed to. They are pretty content with what they have and also very lucky to have grandparents who've blessed them with many wonderful toys to enjoy.

This new bike is a bit different and took some getting used to. For starters it's bigger and has 6 gears. I think the hardest thing for him was using hand brakes instead of using back-peddling as a means to stop. After a few hours it was like he'd been riding this bike all along.

Seeing him on this new bike makes my heart ache for those days when he was just learning to ride. I recently watched the video with him of his first stretch on just 2 wheels. It feels like yesterday that it was just him and his bike, a step to becoming a "big boy." Here I am again, a boy and his bike, another step, another milestone. Time really does fly.