Keep Calm and Ride On

There are so many "Keep Calm and ___ On" posters floating around the Internet and I'm generally not a big fan of them but I think it describes this situation so well.

Yesterday, Andrew brought Nathan to his school's hard court and Nathan rode his bike.

Just like that.

This was after Nathan rode his bike into our car, leaving a scratch across the entire back door. Just moments before, Nathan was so unsteady, unstable and unsure of himself.

This was after we went to various empty parking lots and playgrounds as a family, just so we could all be there to help him learn.

I think somehow, my presence hindered Nathan's performance.

Maybe he could sense that I was anything but calm about him learning to ride. I was anxious and excited about it and I think me constantly encouraging him to "go-go-go!!" wasn't helping him as much as I thought it would.

Luckily, Andrew is the calm and relaxed type. He brought Nathan to the school and magically Nathan went from wobbling around and refusing to put his feet on the pedals, to riding fast and steady around the hard court and along the foot paths.

All he needed was to be calm.

Now, the boy who once insisted that scooters were better (and faster) than bikes, thinks bikes are the best and even asked to go bike-riding again this afternoon. He's getting better each time he rides.

Nathan even rode from his school to the nearby park and went down a big hill on the road without much hesitation today.

The difference between how he rode yesterday afternoon and this afternoon is monumental.

It just blows my mind.

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Winter List 2012 | 12 goals to keep us from hibernating this winter.

Checked off: 5, 8, 10