Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha! I crack me up!
I came home and woke up Larry to assemble the bike. Ever the dutiful husband, he complied while I went out to take care of some other things. When I returned, he was crawling around the den floor searching for a missing nut. The bike was completely assembled except for the seat, and I waxed ecstatic over the pink pedals, agog with anticipation of Susie coming downstairs in the morning and discovering her BRAND NEW BIKE in the middle of the living room. It would be the best present ever!
"Can you help me look for this thing?" asked Larry.
"Sure! Maybe it fell in the box! Let's see...hmmm....oh, wait....wait a second...whoa..."
"What?"
"Uh, there are no brakes."
"What?!"
"It says right here - no brakes. Why would someone make a bike without brakes? Do they hate little kids?"
"No brakes..."
"Yeah..."
I wonder how early Target opens in the morning?
Actually, I wish the bike kiddo learned on wouldn't have had them... because she kept accidentally hitting her pedals backwards, and abruptly giving herself whiplash. or at the very beginning, would get frustrated trying to pedal backwards.
ReplyDeleteshe ended up liking the big wheel a lot more until she got her coordination with pedals a bit more together. (and the big wheel actually went a bit faster).
she never did really get how to use them until she got her full sized bike.. usually just coasted to a stop or went flintstone style.
That would have been a real surprise the first time she rode it if you hadn't noticed those important little words on the box.
ReplyDeleteThat's what her toes are for.....dragging them while she tries to stop. Get reinforced toe sneakers.
ReplyDelete8 am usually ... at least around here they open that early.
ReplyDeleteMaybe the brakes were sold seperately?
ReplyDeleteI had a little cousin who never used the brakes on her bike, she just slid her feet along the pavement until she stopped. It always made me cringe because she always did this with bare feet.
No brakes?!?!? Does the bike come with a crash suit? Or bales of hay to put at the end of your driveway? Dora is looking better and better.
ReplyDeleteI never had any luck finding bikes at Target. Do you remember Benny's from your RI days? That's where we got our last kid bike. Benny's is good for everything.
ReplyDeleteNo brakes, Captain... (ala "No splash, Captain" said to Captain Hook in Peter Pan)
ReplyDeleteOf course, we had to bribe our kids to even learn how to ride bikes. They competed for $5 cash and a Pokemon booster pack.
That's so weird...Chris at Notes From the Trenches just wrote about the exact same thing couple of days ago! They had bought a bike for their youngest boy, and got it home and the box said no brakes! I can't imagine what...why...I have no words for bikes for small children with no brakes. Oh wait, I have a word: Insane.
ReplyDeleteWow! I didn't even realize they make bikes without brakes these days. Well, you learn something new every day.
ReplyDeleteThe follow up to this should be interesting.
ReplyDeleteHappy Birthday to you and Susie!
Oh my! I can just see my guy on a 'brake-less' bike...and then I have visions of the ER.
ReplyDeleteUnreal. That experience would have me writing a kindly worded letter to the lovely store and maufacturer. Not fair to waste a busy Mama's time.
ReplyDeleteNo hand brakes? No step-on-'em-backwards brakes?
ReplyDeleteThat's just about 17 kinds of wrong.
NO! That's insane. I bought T a bike for his birthday--thank goodness for Toys R Us--a good selection and assembled for $10 extra--money well spent in my book.
ReplyDeleteONE year we bought an unassembled and haven't ever since!! Happy Birthday lil' Susie!
ReplyDeleteNo breaks? Was it imported from Bangledesh? How did that little safety measure get skipped in our over regulated society? Try a thrift shop, I've heard sometimes they carry bikes and you can get a good deal-plus it's already built!
ReplyDelete