More Bike Riding Skills to Celebrate

In less than a week of riding his bike without training wheels, Jack looked like he had been doing it for years.  He was riding off curbs, going across the grass, standing up and looking like a pro.  I couldn't believe how fast he picked it up and how good he got in such a short amount of time.

We have been outdoors every single day since the training wheels were left behind.  Usually, our neighbor and her daughter, T, are out there too.  One of my neighbors thought I had been on a vacation somewhere to get a tan but it's just been afternoons in the sun watching the kids ride their bikes.

A few days ago, another neighbor mentioned that he thought Casey would be riding without training wheels soon too.  She kept trying to ride on the grass like Jack and T but the training wheels were slowing her down too much.  I kind of shrugged my shoulders and said, "Someday."  On the day that Jack learned, I let Casey try it out a couple times and she seemed to have no balance.

Now it's three weeks later.  Casey was playing outside while I was making lunch.  When I got outside, she had pulled Jack's bike out and told me she was trying to ride it.  She asked if I would help her.  I did, but I was thinking I was just going to hold her up again.

As soon as she got on there, I barely touched her.  She went right down the driveway, circled around both cul-de-sacs and back up the driveway with me just running as close to her as I could.  It blew my mind.  I couldn't believe she was going to start riding her bike without training wheels at 3 years old!

Later in the afternoon, we took the training wheels off her bike and she hopped on with so much confidence and rode around the cul-de-sacs again much to everyone's amazement.  10 minutes later she was trying to ride it through the grass and keep up with the 5 year olds!

She's had her share of spills and she still needs a little help to get going.  The seat is as low as it can go and she can barely touch the ground with her tippy toes.  By the end of today she could stop by herself without falling most of the time.  It's amazing.  Between watching Jack ride without training wheels and all the riding she's been doing to keep up with him, she figured out how to keep her balance.

It's also amazing to see the differences in learning styles between Jack and Casey.  I've noticed it before, but this further reinforced what I saw.  Jack spent the first ten minutes without training wheels just riding up and down the driveway very carefully, making no turns and going over no bumps.  When he was comfortable with that, he decided to try to turn.  Then he decided he could do the bump at the end of the driveway.  Casey...she jumps in head first and believes she can do it.  She jumped on that bike and went straight down the driveway over the bump and started turning.

I'm very proud of both of them and their bike skills this past few weeks.  But mostly I can't believe I have a 3 year old without training wheels!