The Littlest Bicyclist

E learned to ride a bike this weekend. It was a shockingly momentous occasion!

For the past few months, he's been using a "Strider Bike" borrowed from our neighbors. This is a small, pedal-less bike that claims to teach kids the balance needed for bike riding. In fact, when we were in Germany, these type of "running bikes" were everywhere, and there was not a set of training wheels to be seen. German friends were a bit perplexed by the concept of training wheels; I remember one friend asking, "But how do these little wheels help the children learn to balance?" and my answer was something like, "They don't. They just keep the children from falling over!"

Back in the U.S. for the past few years, we've begun to see more and more of these bikes, and then, our neighbors offered to let E borrow theirs, as their son had learned to ride a bike after only a summer of using the Strider. We took them up on the offer, and E had a grand time enjoying the loaned bike, typically favoring it over his "regular" little bike with training wheels.

Yesterday, we were headed up to ride bikes at A's school playground and I asked E if he'd like to bring the Strider or his regular bike. I offered to take the training wheels off his regular bike and to my surprise, he chose that option! We reached the playground, E hopped on his bike, I gave him a push, and off he pedaled! I could NOT believe it! After all, it was just last summer that we spent many hours on the same playground with A, running along behind her as she wobbled, encouraging her through the fear, until she finally took off on her own two wheels. Was it possible that E could master the same skill just six months after his almost-3-years-older big sis?

After a few pushes, E said, "Now how do I do it MYSELF?" I told him to run along a bit like on his Strider, to get going, and then put his feet up on the pedals and start pedaling. "Okay," he replied, and did just that. From that moment on he rode all over the playground on his own, starting, stopping, turning, going fast, going slow. It was incredible!

Now, A and E are undoubtedly different kids, with different strengths and attributes. I know that some things come easier or harder to each individual, even under identical conditions. And for any who know A and E, it's clear that E is more athletically/physically adventurous, while A is more socially adventurous. Certainly, that played in to their experiences learning to ride bikes. But I definitely credit the Strider bike with helping E gain balance and confidence more quickly.

It was sweet to see how encouraging and proud A was of E. She used sidewalk chalk to write in huge letters across the playground, "E - a grat bike rider! Lurnd in ONE DAY!" They are so lucky to have each other.

We were blessed with sunshine both weekend days, and spent many hours at the playground watching our two bike riders!