It has been so neat to live in a place where there are sidewalks - and a quiet place where the kids can ride bikes and play. Since the evenings have been so mild, we have been out every evening either at the park or riding bikes. We got Josh a bigger bike and a little one for Ginny. Ben took over the little bike that cousin Spencer outgrew several years ago. Luckily, the kids are still small enough that bikes are very inexpensive ...
Anyway, by this point, little Ginny has gotten the hang of pedaling and has begun to try steering. She turned so sharply that she managed to tip over twice tonight ... that is an accomplishment give the stabilizing effect of the training wheels. Ben coasted very slowly into a car several days ago and thereafter refused to even look at his bike. I finally bribed him back on the bike and after a day or two was careening all over the place again. He steers well and is trying to match Robert and Josh for speed - a difficult task give that his wheels are several inches smaller than the other bikes.
Tonight, Josh told Daddy that he wanted the training wheels taken off. Byron took them off, fully expecting to have to put them back on after a very little while. Surprisingly, Joshua took to the bike with a determination I have not seen in him before. He fell many times - and even got a nice little scrape once. Every time, he got right back up to try again. I pulled Daddy off after a little while (he would keep going to hold Josh up) and not 10 minutes later, Josh was off on his own! To be sure, he is fairly wobbly and tends to put his feet down rather than use his brake, but he starts and rides all on his own! I really wish I had my camera with me - Joshua's smile was so big and so beautiful!
Ben now wants his training wheels removed ...
