On Bike Helmets and Growing Up

Since K is my last “baby” I seem to be a little more um… sensitive to her firsts and her milestones (read: I’m freaking out a little about the fact that she is my last baby and OHMYGAWD what a mess I will be in a couple of years when she goes to Kindergarten!!)

{Except the no-more-diapers thing.  I was totally cheering on that milestone with ZERO tears or heartbreak whatsoever because, HELL YEAH, no more diapers!!}

But I digress.

Yesterday she participated in her first trike-a-thon at her school.  It’s a little ride around (and around!) the parking lot of her school to raise money for charity.  The kids are so stinkin’ cute in their helmets, pedaling around and trying not to hit the big orange cones or crash into their friends. And all of us parents are on the sidelines, with our smart phones and cameras, snapping away and taking videos, cheering them on and watching them grow right before our very eyes.

I had to go buy her a helmet for this event because they required all of the children to wear one and because well, she did not have one.  The “trike” she rode I bought at Goodwill almost 2 years ago, before she could even ride on or in anything besides a stroller.  And that her brother used to ride.  She does not have a little bicycle like some of the kids do.  She has a scooter and pedal-yourself car and well, a “new-to-her” trike.  Hence, no helmet.

SO we were at Target and she tried on the helmet and she loved it and it came with a bell (WHY THE DAMN BELL!?!?) and had Dora on it, so “YAY!” (even though she does not even watch Dora!)

And there I stood, in the middle of Target with tears welling in my eyes.

Damn hormones.

How could she be big enough to fit into a bike helmet?  How could she be old enough to ride in the same trike-a-thon that I took her to as a wee babe, to watch her brother ride?

But of course, it’s not just the helmet or the riding.  It’s all the things.

The talking in complete, perfect sentences.  The getting her own yogurt for breakfast in the morning.  The independence at school and her gym class.  The learning of letters and numbers.  The dressing herself.

One by one the list gets checked off and these things just kinda happen as the days and weeks and months pass me by.

But then I had to buy a helmet and it all hit me like a brick.

Funny how that happens, huh?

Oh, but hey! Look how cute she was!

And speaking of Kindergarten (I know, WAY up there at the beginning of the post!)  You still have a chance to win $300 from Amazon for guessing the Kindergarten bloggers! It’s worth a try, don’t you think?)