The Scooter

Scooters are really popular for kids in Brooklyn. Expecting those short legs to walk everywhere (and at a decent clip) is a lot to ask, unless you're comfortable carrying those short legs a good portion of each errand. So kids scoot. P was hot to scoot and knew exactly what he wanted. A pink 3 wheel scooter.

The Micro Mini rocks. Its steered by leaning and is super stable. We live uphill from the scooter store, so P really worked his first ride. He then devoted the rest of the spring afternoon to focused practice in our park. The next morning he was on his scooter with Ethan before I was even dressed. They went down hill for 4 avenues and P mastered his steering. He was soooo pleased with himself :)

We all left the house at 9 am and spent the day in the city at museums and scooting around the Upper West Side. At 7 that evening P still wasn't quite ready to head home so we decided to do some scooting in Central Park. The last hill (its always the last hill isn't it?) on the way to the subway was excessively steep, but P'd had nary a bruise the entire weekend and understood how to use his brake. He rounded the bend, hit a bump and flipped, helmetless head over scooter, and skidded on his face. It looked horrendous. Granted, the goose egg that immediately formed looked formidable, but he really walked away pretty unscathed for as huge of a fall as it was. A gory black eye and a scratched elbow, both of which are healing very nicely, were his only battle wounds. While he has been much more alert going down hills, he apparently wasn't too traumatized because he asks for the thing first thing each a.m...

But when P and I joined E in the city to file our taxes Tuesday I realized P's speed was finally a cause for concern. With 3 days of practice he was now at the end of the block before I'd even locked our front door. He sweetly waited every other tree after I discussed my concern with him, but it was obvious this constant stopping ruined his fun. After all, the whole goal appears to be going fast enough to dramatically pick up the kicking heel and sway the handlebars side to side while coasting and saying "neeeee-ahhhhhm." All fun and games in the park but infinitely more dicey around NYC traffic. Ugh, now what? Take the thing away or keep up with him?

So E and I had to get scooters :) And there we were, in rush hour foot traffic heading from packed Union Square to Wash Square Park, following our three year old on his scooter while he shouted "neeeeee-aaahhhhm!!!" and weaved between surprised pedestrians. It was fabulously fun, and pretty funny too, but the amount of trust it required was pretty taxing. And there, in a nutshell, is the big parenting kicker for us lately. Trusting him and his abilities while making sure his inexperience (and occasional lack of reasoning : I'll cut that car with my magic sword!!!) doesn't get him killed. I had no idea parenting could be so exhilarating and scary all at the same time, or summed up by buying a scooter.