The Banana Rides a Bike: No Training Wheels!

Last weekend The Banana told Dr. Peds that she wanted him to take the training wheels off her little blue bike.  She didn’t need them anymore.  Dr. Peds looked at me.  We both convinced her to leave the training wheels on the little blue bike.  “Riding without training wheels is a lot harder than it seems,” we said.  Dr. Peds told her that maybe a better idea would be to try riding Mr. SP’s smaller bike at the Montessori school and he’d help her practice.  That way, while she was learning, she could still ride the little blue bike with training wheels all by herself.

Because she’s easily convinced, The Banana wrinkled her nose and said OK.

It took a little work to convince Mr. SP to let his sister ride his smaller bike.  Even though his bigger bike fits him better, he really loves his smaller bike.  Eventually he agreed.

Off to the Montessori they went.  Dr. Peds walked with the balance handle in his hand (to attach to the smaller bike so he didn’t have to break his back helping her balance).  Mr. SP rode his big red bike, and The Banana walked the small bike up the hill.

It turned out that the balance bar was not needed.  The Banana just hopped on the bike and rode away.  That was the end of that.  Can I say that she was super thrilled?  (She has an uncanny sense of coordination:  she used to be able to skip down the sidewalk before she was even two years old . . . bizarre).

Can I say that her father and I were really quite amazed?  We were.  Sarah wouldn’t try to ride her bigger bike WITH training wheels for years, and learning to balance without training wheels took a lot of courage for her.  Mr. SP floundered around with the balance bar for quite some time.  But that Banana.  She just hopped right on at age four.  She just hates to be left behind.

Riding bike has become the favorite past time for The Banana this week.