After that disaster day at the park with James our daycare lady Debbie suggested that we put him on a bigger glider bike (the one we had for Jordie was way too small) and see how he did with his balance as that seemed to be his hang up. He was so afraid to fall off the bike that he couldn't balance and just go with it. Debbie lent us the glider bike just before my holidays and he spent my 3 weeks off going between his two bikes while camping and at my parents house. By the end of my holidays he was clearly riding it with his legs up and balancing perfectly but when we would mention taking the training wheels off he would say he wasn't ready yet.
Fast forward to this weekend's camping trip and on Thursday and Friday he was riding along with his training wheels and I casually said to him that if he would take them off he would get to go as fast as Jaxon could and I could see it definitely piqued his interest, but not enough yet. The next day his training wheels had to be taken off to fix his chain and he just looked at us and said "I want to do this, I want to ride without them". One trip to the field at Haywire and he was off and going, with almost no help from anyone. Clearly his month on the glider bike had given him the confidence that he needed to know he could balance and wouldn't fall off. An hour later he was absolutely FLYING down the hills near our campsite and we all remarked how when he did fall it was going to hurt, but that he would learn! Not even an hour after our comment we hear this coming from Jaxon riding into our campsite "uh Jim, we have a problem....James fell." Jim and I went running just a few campsites away and he was laying on the side of the road twisted in his bike with two awesome older boys that had seen him fall and stopped to make sure he was okay. He was shaking and bleeding a little bit on his elbow and his knee but was otherwise okay. Sidenotes: I loved these big kids and thanked them for being good kids....and I hope I am raising my boys to be those kind of kids that will stop too!
Off to the trailer we went to clean him up, bandage him up (which anyone who knows James knows he HATES bandaids) and get him changed into some pants and a shirt. My heart broke when he said to me after he was dressed that he was scared to get back on his bike because he said it was going to hurt. I convinced him to go again, even just for a shorter (and much slower) ride with Papa and Diesel just to get his confidence back. Later that night he was back at it wholeheartedly...but certainly not as fast as he had been a few hours earlier. He is cautious but in a good way. :)
I thought my heart was literally going to burst out of my chest watching him. Here he is showing me the first time that he could do it:
Less than hour after James accomplished the no training wheels Jordie came up to me and said "I no want my training wheels on my bike" so his came off too! Here he is practicing with Daddy and Ash in our campsite:
Isn't his little giggle just the cutest thing ever?!
About 15 minutes later Ash said he was ready for the road so off they went and he was gone too! That first night he felt a bit unsafe and when he would stop and think he was going to fall he would ask for help to hold his seat but then as soon as he got going you could clearly see that he didn't need any help at all. By the next morning they were happily off riding bikes in the rain while we cleaned up the campsite and both boys were sad when they were told their bikes had to be put away cause we were heading home!
More cautious after his fall but still having so much fun!
One last ride before bed on Saturday night
Sunday morning bike riding
That night was truly one of the proudest nights of my whole life as a parent. Jim and I kept praising them and telling them how proud we were of them both and how excited we were for them to now be able to just ride. James said that Dad and I need to get bikes now and we couldn't agree more! I can't wait for evening family walks and bike rides in the future. :)
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