Born to Ride

It was a pretty nice day today and Hannah decided today is the day she is going to try to ride her bike without training wheels.   The training wheels came off and we made our way across the street onto the sidewalk.  I read online about different ways to teach a kid to ride a bike and was getting ready to talk her into trying a few of the methods that I had read about.  I wasn't sure I could handle the whole hold-the-back-of their-bike-and-run-behind-them thing.  I understand that kids everywhere have been learning to ride a bike this way but I was just not convinced from my side of the equation that I could actually pull that off.  I was going to try a few other things first.  We got 30 seconds into my instruction when daddy came to the rescue!  He took the more traditional approach and within a few seconds they were off.  Hannah was trying hard to balance on her bike and Brian was right there with her, the whole way.

 

 

She was balancing so good that within a few steps Brian was able to let go and she could pedal a few times on her own before she would start to tip.  By the time we made it to the end of the block, she was riding a good 5-10 feet on her own at a time. 

 

We made our way around the corner and Hannah kept getting better and better.

We turned around to head back home and she was to the point where she didn't need any help anymore.  SHE DID IT!  We were so proud of her!  I couldn't hold the tears back.

She spent the afternoon riding her bike up and down the block and back and forth in front of our house. While she rode by she had the biggest smile on her face- she too was so proud!

She was practicing her turns when she toppled over and couldn't catch herself fast enough.

She was not too happy but it was nice to see that after we got her cleaned and bandaged up she was ready to try again. Ouch- poor little one.