She Rides!

Earlier this month I posted some pictures of some fun playdates that Kaitlynn has had with her longtime best friend, Anais. Anais's mom, Keri, shared with us during one of our visits that Anais had recently learned how to ride her bike without training wheels. Wow, such an accomplishment considering that Connor only learned recently at age 7, ha! Keri told me that they used a neat trick to get Anais ready for her bike. They started with a small bike (12") and removed the pedals, teaching Anais to ride it by pushing and gliding. Using that method, it's much easier to learn the skill of balancing which seems to be the hardest part after removing training wheels. After Anais practiced balancing on the small bike, they put the pedals back on and within days Anais was off riding on her own.

Well, that's all it took for Kaitlynn. The peer pressure was officially ON, ha! Kaitlynn began begging to learn how to ride her bike without training wheels and wanted to use Anais's little bike without pedals. Anais then made sure we knew the steps to learn how to ride her bike. Step 1: remove the pedals, step 2: push and glide, step 3: balance, step 4: ride!, and finally step 5: put the pedals back on! Kaitlynn had those steps memorized and was more than ready to learn!

We took Anais's little bike home one weekend and waited for a good weather day to start practicing. When we had a good day, Jeff removed the pedals from the 12" bike and took Kaitlynn out in the street to start practicing. They practiced for quite a while on and off throughout the day. We were quite impressed with Kaitlynn's persistance; she just kept trying and trying! By the next morning, Jeff felt like she'd be ready to try riding with the pedals back on and without training wheels.

Sure enough, Kaitlynn hopped on the bike and would you believe, in no time she was off and riding! Without training wheels! At age 4!!!!

(Can you tell we're a bit surprised and so proud??)

Look at that smile! So proud of herself, as she should be!

She just took off on that little bike and immediately had the hang of it! Jeff and I were so shocked! The no-pedal trick really seemed to be the key to help learn to balance. After some time riding on the little bike, Kaitlynn was ready to move up to her regular (16") bike.

Moving up from the 12" bike to her regular 16" bike. Sweet Daddy is such a great teacher!

Here goes nothing.

Off she goes with Daddy chasing close behind.

Success! She never once had a problem with her balance on the bigger bike.

I joked with Jeff that he really had this bike-training thing down after 4 kids. We still can't believe Kaitlynn learned how to ride without training wheels almost 3 full years before Connor. It just goes to show, when she puts her mind to something there is NO stopping her!

Another big smile for mastering the big bike.

Kaitlynn has been begging to ride her bike everyday now. Our favorite times are riding with Connor on the way to/from school. We have had many neighbors stop us and exclaim their surprise when they see Kaitlynn riding without her training wheels. She has come a long way since riding her Big Wheel at the beginning of the school year!

Riding with Connor (and one of her babies) to school.

My two bike-riders!

Love that these two will be able to bike to school together!

Look at that girl! So proud of her!