On May 9th, Mothers' Day here in the US, Leo decided that he wanted to ride his bike without training wheels. David and I thought that he was capable of it last summer, but he is at times a cautious child, so we decided to let him decide when he was ready. An older kid from across the street convinced him to give it a try last summer and took one training wheel off before Leo changed his mind. So he's been riding his bike since then with one training wheel, which was somewhat comical to watch.
Then he decided to take the other training wheel off and give it a try. About a week earlier David had seen his great balance on his scooter, and commented that he should do fine with riding his bike. He smiled when hearing that. I was in the garage when he announced that he was taking his training wheel off. I asked if he wanted to go to the park and try it on the grass but he said no and asked me to watch him. We didn't realize that David was upstairs in the laundry room and heard the conversation and was watching out the window.
He took the training wheel off and rode away, doing fine the very first time. After a few minutes we went inside to surprise David. He told us that he had seen it all from the window. We got the camcorder and recorded his first day of riding his bike. We were outside standing in the rain when David said "Why are we out here in the rain?" I answered "Because this is the one time in our life that our only child learns to ride his bike, and I don't care about the rain."
Leo's been spending as much time as possible on his bike. We plan to get him a larger one soon. Yesterday he went with me when I went jogging, which he has wanted to do for years it seems. We tried it once on his scooter but he couldn't keep up and had trouble going up and down the sidewalk so he gave it up soon after starting. He was so happy to finally be able to come with me yesterday. He told me three or four times how much he was enjoying it. I cut my run short, about 4 1/2 miles, and he had to rest near the end. I wanted to make it shorter but he insisted that he could do the last loop around the neighborhood. It was fun for me too. He makes me a proud and happy Papa (his name for me.)
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Your family is just so gosh darn cute they should tax you on it.
ReplyDeleteI remember when I first learned to ride a bike without training wheels. I fell over a bunch of times , skinned my knees all up but kept getting up as I was determined to ride just like my big brother. Love your posts, make me feel all warm and fuzzy!!
ReplyDeleteHi Madeleine and Dave - thanks for your comments. Cute? Sometimes. Sometimes when Leo is in a mood, like this morning when he thought that it would be funny to throw a piece of cheese at me, I could use words other than cute. But I do see the humor in it from his perspective.
ReplyDeleteI was concerned about teaching him to ride a bike, but luckily he waited until he could do it the first time. Now he's a little daredevil on his bike.
That is awesome, I do remember this moment with John and Justin. It was awesome but cold, of course we got them bikes for Christmas and the lesson couldn't wait until Spring. It took John a couple of days to become fearless and regardless how many times we told him to slow it down going down the hill he wouldn't and one day Justin came in screaming that John had crashed and I had to rush a crumpled bloody heap to the ER. The ER knows us well.
ReplyDeleteSean, no major crashes yet for Leo. Let's hope that it stays that way.
ReplyDeleteaww thats so cute. so glad you got to experience that and sounds like they way you both handled letting him do it at his own speed worked great :-) Glad David also got to witness it...
ReplyDeleteawesome post.. makes me warm inside.
ReplyDeleteThanks hb9 and twosetter. It was a special time for both of us. Now Leo's legs are hurting from all the riding he's doing on a too small bike, so this weekend we're buying him a larger one and a new helmet. Helmets are required for bike riders under 18 in California, but teenagers tend to wear the helmet but not buckle the strap, making it useless. The governor (that looks misspelled) was criticized for riding a bike without a helmet and supposedly setting a bad example for kids.
ReplyDeleteColor me jealous Doc. It makes me smile to hear about the wonderful memories your family is creating. These are great moments to be cherished which I'm sure you know!
ReplyDeleteHi GayEMTNJ. Yes, I realize that this time won't last long and try to make good memories for Leo and for us.
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