Bum-Ow!

A few weeks ago, the first time the weather turned fine, we decided to head out for a bike ride one evening. We were thrilled to find that Brynna's bike helmet, purchased just before we left Minnesota, now fits:



Then we packed her into her super-duper bike trailer and took off. The first five or ten minutes were great. Then...we started to hear crying from the "pod."

One thing you have to realize about New Hampshire, see, is that with virtually no taxes of any kind, the roads are dreadful. Brynna was not at all impressed with the bouncing that was going on, despite Alex's best efforts to avoid the frost heaves and the potholes.

We pulled over and readjusted B's books and toys. We located a slightly desiccated Nuk that had been stored in the Chariot and handed it over. Then we set out again, and things were better for a little while...just about as long as it took for us to get to the halfway point of our route, the farthest possible point away from home. Even though the road had smoothed out, Brynna apparently found the downhills quite alarming.

Alex spent the rest of the trip standing on his brakes on the downhills and then, having forsaken all his momentum, working very hard on the uphills. Finally we made it home and unloaded Brynna, turning her loose in the yard to play on her jungle gym.

She wandered off across the grass, then turned back around, made the sign for bicycle, and said, "bye-col."

"Yes," we said. "You went on the bicycle!"

She then looked at us forlornly, pointed to her bottom, and said, "bum."

"What about your bum, sweetie?"

"Owwww."

We felt terrible. She spent the next few days saying "bicycle - bum - ow" whenever bikes were mentioned.

So we eased off the biking, alternating riding days so that Brynna didn't have to come along. We decided to restart her off slow, with little rides around town.

So Sunday evening, while I was on call, Alex and Brynna biked the two miles up to the hospital to see me. With extra padding on the seat of the Chariot. It went well, and so on Monday afternoon I decided to see how she would do on the 20 minute ride back from Annie's. It was a big hit! Brynna was very excited to see me show up on the bike, and she sang her little songs all the way home, the same way she usually does in the car. She didn't even get alarmed when we rode across the path next to the interstate!

This morning I took her up to Annie's on the bike—success again. So, it looks like we may have a biker chick on our hands after all.

High five, little B!