Saturday, February 19, 2011

Bike update

Saturday:
This morning by 8 a.m. we were back outside with the no-training-wheels-bike. Lucas did a few coasts down the hill, a few short rides where he jumped off the bike after 10 feet... Then something just "clicked" for him! He was going longer and longer and actually correcting his balance before he would fall. After a few times of this, we decided to get out of the field, don the helmet, and head for the basketball courts...
At first, he didn't want to get on the bike at all... But after being told that he could have a BIG marshmallow in his hot cocoa when we got home if he could make it from end to end, he hopped right on. It was amazing! After about 5 tries, he made it all the way from one end of the court to the other end (longways!). He was super proud of himself! Another day or 2 as good as this, and we'll start working on braking and turning... By summer, he should be good to go mountain biking - or down our street at least ;P
He was so proud!
Sunday:
We headed right for the basketball course this time... no grass to start.
After 2-3 times across the court, we decided to see if we could get him to turn/brake. After about 3 minutes, he didn't need us at all. We held the bike up for him to get on and then he would ride all around for several minutes. Sometimes he chased us, other times we just watched in awe from the sidelines... Not too shabby for the 4th day, huh?!?
Better not go too fast though, or the cops will come and say "freeze"! Lottie's new fav game!
After nap, we headed back out with the bike. People were actually playing basketball at the courts, so we had to go to the other end of the neighborhood to the decrepit tennis courts...
Riding the bike was like old news now... He would just ride all over, in circles, out the gate, back in, around some more... like he'd been doing it for years. The highlight of this outing was that he could ride the bike really fast out the gate into the gravel parking lot, then slam on the brakes and create a dust cloud... Boys!
And in typical Lucas fashion... later Sunday night Tony was having a father-son talk with him... didn't it feel good to try something new that wasn't easy at first, but you kept trying and now you can do it... blah blah blah. To which Lucas nonchalantly replied - but Daddy, it wasn't even hard!

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