Two Wheeled Wonder

This is our weeks biggest accomplishment. Vincent is riding a two wheeler without the training wheels. His little friend next door, who is 1.5 years older than him, just started riding his bike without training wheels a few weeks ago. Vincent, seeing this and seeing the other older kids without training wheels, decided he was ready to take his off. We tried to discourage this but he persisted in asking daily for about a whole week. Peer pressure.

So, today Brian took them off and they had a learning session in the back yard. He did pretty well, and was prepared to show off his new skills when I got home from work. But riding in the grass is definitely harder than riding on the street at least as far as getting started goes. I suggested he try riding on the street, and I could see the hesitation in Brian's eye.

We let him try it though. After a few tips, a few tears, and lots of frustration, he had it. Getting started was the hard part. That's where the frustration came in. Turning was next. Enter the tears. But as the other kids came out on their bikes and they were all riding on the street in front of the house, he was less concerned with the mechanics of the whole thing, and just wanted to keep up with the other kids. Once he concentrated less on what he was doing, and more on where he wanted to go, he was off. In less than 12 hours of taking off the training wheels, he's turning, going down the driveway hill, riding up the curb and into the grass, and keeping up with the older kids.

I think it took me a year to figure out how to ride a two wheeled bike. I'm sure my mom ran countless miles behind my bike holding the seat. Not with Vincent. The balance thing was a non-issue. Anyway. I was really proud of him. He just still looks too little to be doing such a big kid thing. Here I am wondering what's next.