Memes IRL

Skipper's been riding her balance bike a lot lately. Today she rode it while I walked to pick up Dutch at school. She typically zooms ahead of me, then gets distracted or waits for me, and I keep a steady pace, so we sort of leapfrog our way along. She had some technical trouble at one point, and fell down with her bike as I passed her. She looked at me to verify that she was okay, and then got up and picked her bike up in a business-like way and got back on, while I kept walking ahead of her. We were heading up a long, uphill block that ends at a busy intersection with two crossing bus lines, and there was a small cluster of scruffy young homeless-looking people at the bus stop. I realized that they were watching Skipper,* and they were all smiling, and one of them said "That kid is biking like a boss!" I had not realized that this is something people outside the internets actually say, so I watched them warily as we approached, just in case they suddenly turned into LOLcats. They didn't. They were beaming and they greeted Skipper warmly as we passed. She beamed back.

Skipper looks younger than her almost-three years, because she's short and chubby,** so she looks extra-comical with her bike, and the pride emanates off of her in almost-visible waves. It makes me laugh every time I see her ride, so I understand why the total strangers were delighted to see her. She totally does bike like a boss.

*It's probably worth noting that Skipper was wearing one of her favorite outfits, fuchsia leggings with red patent leather ankle boots and a short furry coat (the hood has ears on it) with a satiny, quilted pink lining, which all adds up with her rashy dry face to make her look (to me) like a tiny, plump Hollywood starlet who has recently fired her stylist and gotten a chemical peel. All she's missing is a pair of enormous sunglasses.

** For the same reason, I also look younger than my age, except for the shocking wrinkling and tragic hollows around my eyes.