Baby birds learn to fly

From outside the nest, it seems that a baby bird learns to fly almost all at once. There is just a helpless chick, then one day a chick stretching and flapping her wings, and then the next day the nest is empty. 

But now I know, a baby bird learns to fly in uncountable different steps, most happening so rapidly that we only discover them when we look backward. 

Some steps are tearful, 

Credits: imgarcade.com

some are jubilant, 

Credits: urbanpeek.com

some are barely perceptible. 

Credits: wallpaperhere.com

The only truly common denominator is that all are bittersweet. How is it that my own baby bird could be cruising down the sidewalk on her own 2-wheeled bike, faster than I can keep up walking, while I still have her toddler seat attached to my bike? Since I somehow missed the obvious time to remove it, I may just keep it, now. Bittersweet.