Wednesday, April 15, 2009

The Bike is Back, Baby

Last Fall X-man was trying to "fix" my bike. Nothing was wrong with it when he started, but when he finished, he had apparently loosened the nut and bolt that held the trailer to my bike. They fell off somewhere around Church and Tickseed when we were going over to visit some friends. I managed to find the nut and the washer, but there was a special piece that fit into the attachment to the trailer that was gone. 

I finally ordered the replacement last week and put it on today. At 3:30 p.m. I headed out to pick up X-man at Next Generation. And the strong wind from the north pushed against the nylon on the trailer, even with the venting system open. But I did it in 30 minutes, about 1/2 the time it takes me to walk up there. When I went into the Tiger room, it was awesome to hear that X-man had had a better day. He's been a mess of emotions trying to get used to the new room and all of the independence and individual responsibility that comes with it. Plus, while he sits next to this amazing little girl on the carpet, he has a few friends who are a challenge to be friendly with... and now that rough and tumble behavior is spreading to others, so they put him on watch, which is fine with me. He got watched in the Pandas and the Turtles from time to time, too. It's how he became friends with the Wonder Twins (they wanted to eat lunch at their own table, too). 

Anyway, X-man saw me in my helmet and jumped up from his seat in Spanish and ran to get his coat and open the door. He announced to Ms. Sonya that he was biking home -- but on the back of Mommy's bike. :-) His added weight in the trailer actually helped with the wind issue, as well as going back with the wind. 

And so now that the weather is looking nice, I think I'll be working up to biking up there to get him as many afternoons as possible. He's getting a little sluggish in the morning to get him there in time for class at 8:45 a.m. Mostly we have our "You have to wear pants" argument, which takes 20 minutes... which would be key biking up there time. 

He also hid my bike lock the other day, so now I have to scavenge the garage to find it! Anyway, if you see me out on the streets, beep at me!

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