Zoe's First Bike Ride

Earlier this week we all went to the community garden, and each of the kids rode a razor scooter for the 1/2 mile trek there and back. Guy and Xander had some incredible tricks to show off, like scootering on the sidewalk, then launching in the air to fly over the green belt and land in the street. (I'll get some footage of that ASAP)

Not to be outdone, Zoe showed her own prowess on the scooter, gliding long distances, coasting down hills, and making tight curves. I realized, with balance like that, she could easily maneuver her bicycle!

My bicycle-instruction secrets are simple: start with a too-small bike and a too-low seat. This way the child will easily be able to put her feet down when she wants to. Guy impressed us all, when (at age 3.11) he saw Xander learning to ride without training wheels and decided to do the same. I also gave him a too-small bike, and he pushed along the ground to practice gliding (for 10 minutes), then quickly progressed to pedaling 5 or 6 times before stopping, and then simply took off. In less than 30 minutes he was a cycling pro.

So, last night when the boys had soccer practice at the nearby park, I announced to Zoe that she was going to ride her bike, with no training wheels, all the way to the park. At first she whine, "Noooo. I caaaan't. I'll tip over!" But I assured her I would walk next to her. On the way to the park I'd get her rolling and she'd pedal as many times as she could before deciding to put her foot down. We cheered when she was easily able to get 9 rotations in...then 20 pedal rotations! I was ready to give up on the counting, but Zoe insisted, "Count again! Let's see how many I'll get!"

By the time we got to the park, she was a cyclist! Doug was there, with his multipurpose phone and took these short movies. It was fun to see her laugh and squeal with delight at her success!