H. the "no more training wheeled girl"!!

Every year when my children go into Kindergarten, I try to teach them two things.  One, how to tie their shoes and two, riding a bike without training wheels.  Well H. is my youngest and this is the year to get her started.  I haven't started with the tieing the shoe thing yet, mostly because all of her shoes are slip-ons or Velcro! So riding of the bike is the thing to learn.  H. and her sister, M. have begged for weeks for us to start trying her without her training wheels.  I, such the good mother (not), have procrastinated.  The thought of running besides my baby and letting go and watching her crash was way too much for me to comprehend let alone actually do.  I am sometimes just too tired, or lazy.  In any case, last week I thought I should put my "good Mommy pants" on and give it a go.  We practiced for about 5 min. one day as we were waiting to waste time.  H. did pretty good, so did I, I thought! :o)  Well a couple of days later she wanted to try again, so I took a deep breath and gave it a go.  We tried on the sidewalk in front of our house for about 5 min.  It is really hilly, so we went to the park where it is mostly flat.  We worked again for a few more min. of me holding the back of her seat and letting go every once in a while.  I found myself not being able to keep up with her wild speed and grabbing the the seat when she would get going too fast.  I finally took a deep breath and realized I was holding her back and that it was "ok" if she fell.  So I gave her a good starting push with a little run, then closed my eyes and let go and stopped..  (I was peaking, however!)  And to my amazed surprised, she kept riding and riding and riding!! She fell when she stopped, not knowing how to hold up her bike with out the training wheels to do it for her!  I was sooo proud of her! At that moment I realized I was really holding her back.  I think she could of done it the first day we practiced, if I had only let her go.  Isn't life a crazy lesson to be learned.  Cut the "mommy strings" and let my kids go.  :"(  I love watching them grow and learn, but hate the fact that they will rely on me less and less.  What a great, but hard day!!  Congrats H.!! You are a big girl now!!