Riding Bikes

We had a big milestone weekend for bike riding.  Little Man had been asking for about a week to have his training wheels taken off.  We had promised him that we would try (again) over the weekend and see how he felt about it.  The last time we tried it was with his first bike that was much too small for him at the time and he asked to have the training wheels put back on after a gallant effort.  This time, it wasn't much of an effort at all.  I left the house to run a quick errand while Peanut and Sweet Pea were sleeping.  Papa Bear and Little Man were left to their own devices and when I got back a short 20 minutes later, Little Man had completely mastered riding his bike.  He was standing up and pedaling, executing turns and even falling gracefully.  He still uses a foot dragging method for stopping at times rather than using the foot or the hand brakes, but other than the damage he inflicts on his shoes, it works for him.  He wants to spend every minute he is awake and not at school on his bike.

That leads me to Peanut.  He had Little Man's 10 inch bike passed down to him about 6 months ago but felt that it was too "wobbly" and had only sat on it a few times.  Watching Little Man get praises for his effort spurred Peanut to try it again.  (Papa Bear did adjust the training wheels to get them as stable as possible) and now we are having to pry Peanut off of his bike in order to get him to eat and occasionally come inside.  It is a joy to see and a balm to my sometimes anxious heart about the limitations that apraxia will impose on my boy.  I know that there are no limitations to what he can do and he proves that to me all the time, but these reminders are still wonderful.  He also uses a foot dragging method to stop and has literally shredded 2 different pairs of crocs.  We consider it a small sacrifice to the bike gods.

Sweet Pea is now granted access to the trike so we are working on pedaling although she is in no hurry to learn and prefers to be pushed in her car - she is a smart one :)

We are so close to being able to go for family bike rides which is something that both Papa Bear and I have fantasized about for 5 years.  Now we just have to get me back on a bike - something I haven't done since falling off Papa Bear's bike in college.

Updated with a video: