There are few things that make a Papa more proud than letting go of the back of that bicycle seat and watching your pride an joy pedal away under her own power. I'll let you in on a little tip at the end, but I knew today was the day for Nana. Beautiful Sunday afternoon in the cul-de-sac, first signs of Spring (AZ time) already coming out. We hadn't really practiced that much, just watching her scoot about though I knew she'd been ready for awhile. It just took one push and she was off. One of those difficult moments as a parent where you celebrate the accomplishment but lament that your little girl is growing up. Thankfully she still needs me; I ran to keep up and saved the day from a major spill. She can't work the break and ends up in a wobbly power skid. Thanks for the helmet Tia Mehrsa!
TIP: Ditch the training wheels.
When we moved to AZ we gained a German neighbor and an insight to how they do things across the pond. They have bikes specifically made to teach a child to ride on 2 wheels. It's basically the same thing as a normal bike, maybe stretched out a bit for stability, but the secret is that it's missing the guts. No crank, cog, pedals, chain, etc. They just ride it Flinstone style and work on the most important thing....balance. Have them pick their feet up and coast around as much as possible. When you see that they spend most of their time feet up...then move them to a normal pedal bike and off they go. Worked 2 for 2 for us. Now if you don't happen to have a German neighbor, just pull the pedals off of a US bike and you get the same effect. I used the above "Darbie Bike" with Nana and the results were the same. Never even used the training wheels. Good luck.
4 comments:
Oh my gosh, Jared really wants to get one of those bikes for Cyra. He's been talking about it for months.
I LOVE the pictures on this post. Good job Spencer. And you're welcome on the helmet. I picked it out myself. And way to go, Ariana! You are such a big girl.
AND--nice new blog format!
AND--Please do not post any more about how it's spring in Arizona when we are at least 4 months away from the few days of spring we get here.
Thanks Mehrsa...Irene said she saw that Costco was going to start carrying them. Honestly, just take the pedals off of any normal bike then you're set. A nice "PINK DARBIE BIKE" would be perfect for Cyra. Plus then you don't have to keep 2 bikes.
BTW...I think Jared must have spread some bad Mojo on me when he saw Arianna's bike. I accidentally ran it over last night when the neighbor kid left it out behind my truck. She's now riding a "Boy Bike" we had on backup.
Oh...and we feel your pain when those cold fronts come in around here too...dropped the highs to a chilly 72 I tell ya. BRRRR
Good job Arianna...you go girl:)!!!
Arianna é uma fofa,tem cara de sapeca mesmo.
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