Little bike riders.

The day has arrived!! At last Tyran is able to ride without stabilisers. I confess I did a terrible thing and bribed him. Ok, bribing was bad, but not terrible. What was terrible is that I bribed him with McDonalds. I've tried promising a new bike, trips to Legoland, as many bedtime stories as he likes (the latter usually works a treat) and he was having none of it. So I said that he could have a Happy Meal if he at least gave riding without stabilisers a good go. It also came with the condition that the offer was valid for today only. And what do you know, that was good enough!! So off we went to the park where there's lots of grass, which hurts less than concrete, and paths and space.

Anyway, the bike isn't the greatest. It's far too small for him now and it's really hard to pedal. It was just a cheap bike I bought 2 years ago to try to entice him into riding a bike. I certainly wasn't about to replace it with a better, more expensive one until he's learned to ride properly though, especially since he showed no interest in trying. But despite it being hard work to pedal the bike, he was fantastic. I pushed him along once and then let go and that was it, off her went. It really was that simple. It took a while for him to believe that he'd "really got the hang of it" (his words), but once he realised that he really could do it there was no stopping him. We need to work on him starting on his own, but again, I suspect a better bike will help with that. He even managed to turn around and ride over bumps.


Once he'd got it he wanted to go and play in the playground so of course Hayley had to have a go. She's so fearless and so determined and lo and behold, off she went on her own without stabilisers. It was harder work all round with her because the bike pedals are so stiff and her little legs struggled to keep pedalling, but given a better bike and I reckon she'd be flying. Obviously it took her longr to get the hang of it, but she has an amazing sense of balance anyway, and between that and her perseverence (see, I knew that strong will would come in handy eventually!) there was just no way she was going to give up until she'd managed it.


So now to fund sparkling new bikes that are easier to pedal for them. One order already for a lilac one with a seat for a doll and some tassles on the handlebars!!