Best Day EVER!

A few weeks ago I decided it was time for Ox to take off the training wheels. One of the training wheels was breaking and I needed the bike to work for riding to school in the morning. We are quite an exhibition . . . Baby in the stroller, Gigi alternately pushing her mini-stroller and riding on the back of my stroller while insisting I carry hers, Ox on his bike, and Pippin on the leash. We command the sidewalk. We are a whole parade. I love it. Anyway, he has been interested in doing this on his own before, but always wanted to quit because it was too hard. I didn't want to push him, so I never worried about it. But it was time.

Predictably, he wanted to give up about at day #2. I was determined, though, and I told him I knew he could do it and that he just needed to get used to balance. Nevertheless, I told him that if we practiced every day for 14 days (give or take, I'm not a drill sergeant) and he still wanted to stop, he could and I would take him out for ice cream for his efforts. By day #3, I was ready to throw in the towel. It was just so frustrating! I tried not to let this show, and told him to just take his bike on his own and see what he could do while I played with Gigi out front. It was magical. After he played around for a bit, it was like he decided that this was his thing and not mine. I asked him to tell me when he was ready for some help and he did and I gave him a push and he did it! Before this day, I had been so frustrated with his lack of confidence in the principle of balancing while pedaling. In my desperation, I'm afraid I got sort of weird on him and told him to think really hard about just going straight, or just imagine himself riding and balancing. That third day, as he was riding up and down our street, he said, "I do it better when I'm NOT thinking about it! Like right now, I'm just thinkin' 'bout spiders, now I'm thinkin' 'bout cars and when I can drive a car someday; now I'm thinkin' 'bout pumpkins and why some people put pumpkins on their roofs."