A Bicycle Built for Three

Lately it seems Little Man has been surrounded by inspiration and aspiration; so many arenas of life have allowed him to see himself as what he could be someday.  Whether they are moments big or small, it's clear that he is absorbing all of them. Husband is a huge fan of cycling, so following the Tour de France each year is a must.  This year cyclist Biniam Girmay of Eritrea made history -- not only was he the first black African rider to win the green jersey (awarded to the top sprinter of the race), he was the first black African rider to win a tour stage (and in fact won three of them).  Little Man already loves riding his bike in our cul-de-sac, but after watching the Tour he would race down the driveway calling, "I am Tour de France!"  Somewhere in his mind, he sees himself in that green jersey. Little Man has also recently started gymnastics.  It really started out of a desire to have him climb and jump over something other than our couch, but he has reall...

I recently wrote about Little Man's increasing awareness of skin color and differences between us , and it seems the awareness is now happening in many other ways.  Recently I went to pick him up from daycare and walked in at the same time as another parent. I had not met her before, but given the size of the classes and the varying schedules that's not unusual; the students can easily identify whose parent is whose, although we parents often can't do the same.  The other parent walked in slightly ahead of me, and as her child ran to her Little Man ran to me.  The parent glanced at me and mumbled something along the lines of, "That's why [my daughter] calls you [Little Man's] white mama." To be fair, the other parent said something else that was hard to catch, but the rest was unmistakable -- something about same hair color (perhaps she and I, since we somewhat do), so she wasn't sure why I was being referred to as white.  I'm presuming positive in...