Bicycle Update

The day after the handlebars fell off the 10-year-old's bike, we took him out to buy a new bike.

The first day out with it, he crashed.
Spectacularly.
He has scrapes and bruises a stunt man would be proud of.

I asked him what he was doing when he fell.
He said he wasn't sure.
I asked if he was just riding or if he was "hot dogging".
He said he didn't know what "hot dogging" meant.
Showing off, I told him.
He said, yeah, maybe he was doing that.

One week later, his new bike had a flat tire.

I asked him if he'd been doing tricks with his bike.
He said he wasn't sure.
But later, he admitted that he'd been doing this "thing" over the curb.
I told him I didn't know what "thing" he meant.
Jumping off the curb, he told me.
I said, yeah, maybe that's what caused it.

I'm not so surprised any more that his handlebars fell off the old bike.
Perhaps I'm surprised they'd stayed attached so long...