Hey all, happy Saturday evening to you.
Today was one of those days where I made loose plans as you never quite know what will happen and thank goodness I did.
Leo who has numerous food allergies the worst one being to cows milk protein had an allergic reaction to something he had eaten. Often we aren’t 100% sure exactly what it is but it leaves him poorly and miserable.
This isn’t anything too much out of the ordinary, we have been dealing with his allergies since he was two weeks old so we know how to deal with them it’s just not ideal when it’s the weekend and you want to meet your friend and her children at a local wildlife park.
Karl had to work later on today so we had the grand idea of me taking Nate out for a bike ride so I could get a nice walk (exercise to burn off cake) in and Karl and Leo would stay at home so Leo could chill and Karl would start cooking an early dinner so we could all eat together before he went to work.
It sounds perfect doesn’t it and I will be honest I was quite excited about some one on one time with Nate as Leo had been having the majority of my attention all day. So he donned his cycle helmet, talked me through his gears and off we went. We are lucky to live near some fab footpaths that are away from the road so we went along one of those that heads up to some woods.
My only rule was that Nate wasn’t to go so far that we couldn’t see each other but luckily as the path is straight and quite wide I could see him easily. We came to a big hill and Nate was so chuffed with himself peddling all the way to the top without needing to get off his bike and push.
I noted some lovely cream coloured blossom on one of the trees and thought for a moment about stopping to take a snap but decided it would be best for the return journey so hopped along after Nate until we came to the bottom of another even bigger hill.
Now this hill I know well as I run up it (when my only exercise isn’t chopping said cake up!) Nate wisely decided to push the bike up the hill half way and then that he would come down on the bike and I should film him on my phone to show Daddy and Leo.
We communicated by shouting and he announced so loudly that the birds flew out of the trees, ‘I’m Coming, start recording!’ So I did as any mother would and excitedly filmed him shrieking with excitement and with a huge smile on his face as he came down the hill.
I reminded him to use his brakes as loudly as I could just incase he forgot but then chastised myself as an overprotective mother as he knows the hill and has been down it before so why would he forget?
Well can you guess? He forgot, the bike wobbled and I filmed my eldest son, my gorgeous boy crashing his bike in a cloud of dust.
I sprinted to him as he wasn’t far ahead of me and found that the bike had fallen on top of him. He was covered in mud and crying his eyes out as you can imagine. I was quite concerned about his knee which on examination looked swollen and already bruised but he was more concerned about a nasty scrape on his arm.
I did all the first aid stuff and made sure nothing was broken (thank goodness as on a footpath in the middle of the woods I have no idea how an ambulance would have got to us!) I then had the dilemma of being a good mile away from home with a heavy bike, an inconsolable Nate and hills to combat.
Nate wanted an ambulance and for a good five minutes all he said was ‘A and E’ and then when I explained that an ambulance wouldn’t get to us he said ‘get the emergency helicopter then’!
I got him to sit on the bike and pulled him along, at one point my cardigan got stuck in the ‘engine’ bit of the bike (yes I hear you, I’m an idiot!) and had to try and untangle myself with Nate still on the bike and holding one of my arms.
I called Karl who confirmed what I knew that I needed to get him home and that he couldn’t get to me any quicker. I later found out that actually Leo was having a tantrum anyway so poor Karl was dealing with that!
By the time we had gone the mile or so back to the end of the footpath I was dripping in sweat, I could feel the muscles at the top of my arm swelling and my back felt like it would give in. I decided that the best thing to do would be to leave Nate on one side of the road so I could cross with the bike and put it on our driveway and then run back to carry Nate across. He would be in my sight the whole time and I didn’t want to make him walk anymore. One because I didn’t want him to be in pain and two because he sounded like a wounded animal and was getting increasingly louder and I imagined our neighbours would panic.
So I calmly explained my plan to him and went to get ready to cross the road when he said, ‘I can’t stand here on my own! I could be kidnapped’! I then heard laughter from a lady who was gardening her flower beds in the garden just next to us. I imagine she like me was imagining the millions of times I have said just those words to Nate when he has asked to go off and do something on his own.
So we get home to survey the damage and bless him he has some awful scratches and bruises and feels very sorry for himself. He was put onto the sofa in his pyjamas and we cuddled and then Nana came round for some added TLC.
You can imagine how shitty a mother I felt, being the bloody idiot who filmed her son crashing his bike and then had to somehow get him home. Karl assured me though that for a boy this is one of life’s valuable lessons and he did something similar crashing a bike into a fence at Nates age.
I know that as parents we can’t wrap our children up in cotton wool but the guilt I felt and the feeling of my heart being in my mouth that my baby had hurt himself was truly awful. Next time I take him out he will be wearing much more padding and I imagine I will stick to a flatter path.
I’m not for a second suggesting that any of this was funny in anyway however it was only when we got home and had calmed down that I went through what Nate had been saying in my head and couldn’t help but giggle to myself. I have two amazing, bright, excitable and occasionally challenging little boys and I wouldn’t have it any other way.
Is this is a good time to say I failed my cycling proficiency test at primary school?!
tiredfromwhitstable 