On Monday Sept 12th Brooklyn decided she was big enough to attempt riding her pedal bike without training wheels. (We only allowed her to have training wheels on long enough for her to get the hang of peddling and then took them right off because they scared her more than anything when the bike tipped. She already knew how to balance like a pro from her balance bike so we knew the training wheels were useless for actual riding.) So of course I was more than willing to have her jump on and give it a try. I held her under her arms and let her get used to balancing the bike underneath her and pedal along. When I got tired of chasing after her I had Derek take over. Derek would not hold her under her arms....he held on to the back of her shirt and only her shirt. It took her a few fumbles but she began balancing on her own within 2 or 3 trips up and down the street. The next night we tried again and right before we were going to head in for the night I decided to let go of her shirt and see what happened. SHE DID IT! She was so proud of herself and Derek and I were super proud! So we took a little bit longer and had her try it on her own a bit more...she did really well!! Well on Wednesday when I got home from school...she was able to go from our driveway all the way around the front of the house and down the side street by herself! Crazy! I was blown away that she was able to do all this on her own and at such a young age! The next day we went all the way down the street to Nana and Papa's house and Brooklyn rode her bike the entire way! The next evening on our way to Nana and Papa's house Brooklyn even figured out how to use her feet to get herself moving and then was able to balance and put her feet up to pedal. And now she is a pro and doesn't need our help at all.
