Out of balance

This afternoon, to enjoy a balmy February afternoon, Courtney and I took our YorkiePoo puppy out for a walk. Well, I walked. Cupcake yanked. And Courtney scootered.

Courtney was trying out her "new" (thanks, Santa!) Light-up Razor Scooter for the first time. She was so excited to get on that thing, first spinning the wheels by hand to be sure the light up sparkle effect made from turning the wheels met her approval. Satisfaction achieved. At the end of the driveway, she stepped on, diligently testing out which foot worked better as the "rider" and which foot was the better "pusher".

Upon decision that left rode and right pushed, we were off.

It was a great "winter" day to be outside. We even heard some confused birds chirping AND the dog pooped (rather than her usual routine of holding it the entire walk only to come in and leave us a surprise on the rug.) The sun was shining. And the new scooter and it's driver were scootering. If you could call it that.

If I had been walking backwards...on my hands...blindfolded...I STILL would have been WAY in the lead. At one point, I stopped and turned around to see that beauty of a 6 year old, full of excitement, determination, and energy teetering along, at a generous clip of 0.0002 mph. Her wide smile and bright eyes were reminiscent of the faces of women as they sprint across the finish line of a world record race. And if The Slowest You Can Move A Razor Scooter Without Gravity Tipping It Over were a world record race, she would have triumphantly won too.

She was so proud of herself on that thing. So full of heart. So full of awesome.

Gravity did win once. She tipped over and upon brushing off her knees she confidently explained, "I know why I fell just then, Mom. I stopped smiling for a minute so I lost my balance."

As we arrived home 6o minutes and 1/8 of a mile later, Courtney noticed that the wheels on the scooter weren't lighting up. She had not been going fast enough for the damn sparks to sparkle. In that very moment, when she looked at those dull wheels with confusion, I swear I could have put my hands around the neck of Mr. Razor and not been responsible for what happened next. Instead I tried my best to pull together an explanation of the physics of the situation.

"The thing is Courtney, the wheels have to spin around at a certain velocity to produce energy to..."

"I think it only lights up and sparkles when it is nighttime."

"I think you are exactly right, Courts."

Who could argue with a girl whose smile keeps her so well balanced?