By George, I think she's got it!

On Sunday my daughter officially learned how to ride her "big girl" bike. No training wheels required. It's so funny to watch her because the bike she learned on is entirely too small for her. Think circus clown on a teeny tiny bike with the music playing.


I'm almost ashamed to admit it, but the method we used to teach her came from the Disney Channel. They show these long commercials about kids that make a difference and one of them showed a pre-teen boy who decided to participate in a kids triathlon but didn't know how to ride a bicycle. They showed him sitting on the bike, no pedals, obviously no training wheels, "scooting" around on it to get the balance thing down. So, I thought, what the hell - can't hurt to try it, nothing else seems to be working.

So, a couple weeks ago we went to a garage sale and bought a little bike she could sit on and touch her feet to the ground on for $3. Best $3 I've ever spent. We brought it home, junked the training wheels and unscrewed the pedals. She got right on and started pushing herself around the sidewalk and driveway. For the first few days she always had a foot on the ground, then she started to get daring and lifted one or both up as she went.

So, last Sunday she was doing her normal scooting and had gotten really good at balancing with her feet up. I asked hubby to put the pedals back on so we could see what happened. I was convinced she would just put her feet on them and go. She wasn't real up to the thought of actually riding her bike at first, but when I assured her I would be right there if she fell or got hurt she was all for it.

And, as I suspected, she pushed herself off, put her feet and the pedals, and went like hell. She didn't even realize what she was doing at first. Then she was all proud of herself and had that big cheesy grin of hers for the rest of the night.

Hubby finally did take her out and got her a bigger bike that she's more comfortable on and she's been a riding fool ever since - hasn't missed a day yet.

I'm so proud!