Athlete: 0, Mom: 1

This is my scorecard for the day. As an athlete, I am tired. I lifted bis and tris and then I ran an easy 5 ish miles at the track workout. My arch is a little achey in my left foot. I got on the trainer tonight, too, upon my hub's encouragement, for about 40 minutes. It wasn't as dreadful as I thought it was going to be.

So, my workouts felt flat and menial, but as a mom, I felt high. My baby, my three-year-old baby boy was a joy to watch. My clumbsy, 2 left footed little guy must have grown overnight developmentally. We were at the park with other kids and he wanted to ride his scooter there. Picture a rickety little red scooter with three wheels. His older sister was tearing around on her razor like a pro. The boy desperately wanted to keep up with her. A few leg strokes and he gave up on the incline to the park. But once we got there, with a little coaxing, he rode it around the basketball courts. He actually looked coordinated for the first time in his short life, though his huge black skater helmet whispered otherwise. He looked so top heavy with that thing on his mellon. But, he wasn't tripping over his feet or falling down. He was riding the scooter and he had the right rhythm even. He ventured up a little incline on the bike path from the hoops and when he realized he was on his way back down the other side, it was too late to stop with the momentum behind him. His little blue eyes were as big as baseballs when he felt the wind in his face. My knee jerk reaction was to run over and rescue him, but I saw the short incline was leveling off just 3 feet in front of him, so I let him go. Amazingly, he totally pulled it off and the look of accomplishment on his face was beyond words. He totally made it and he knew it.

"Wet's do that again, mommy!" Up he went on the loop again, 3 more times and each time he was a little gutsier. He found a little glipse of not just what it means to be brave, but to push himself out of his comfort zone, something he never does. He was so proud and I learned that I need to let him go a little more often. I need to let go a little more often. I still want to push him around in the stroller and cuddle him and caudle him. Really, he wants to ride with the big kids and he showed me just how today.