Paulo can now ride a bike without training wheels. It happened over the Easter Long weekend on April 3rd, when in the morning, I took his training wheels off and took him outside to ride the bike. He got on the bike, and I went the whole speech again:
- You WILL fall down many times. You just will. But you have to stay strong, get up and try again. Every time you get back on your back you will be better at it.
- If you start feeling wobbly it means you have to pedal a little faster.
- watch the road.
So he went on the bike, I held the back of his seat. He started pedaling but kept forgetting to steer the bike and kept going to the side of the road. We stopped, talked about why that was happening.
He got back on the bike, started pedaling, and soon he was riding very stable on a straight line. I started loosening my grip on his seat, and he was fine. Then I let go. And he just kept going. For a long time. I ran in front of him and put my hand up showing him he had done it, and he was riding by himself. And then he had a huge smile on his face. That whole thing took 10 minutes, at most.
After that, he never fell fell down. Next we taught him how to start on his own (without a push) and he mastered that within minutes as well. And ever since then, he has been riding the bike non-stop every afternoon, and riding it to and from school every day. I have now started riding my bike with him when I pick him up from school and Emilio is napping.
I have also noticed (and this might be a coincidence or not), but ever since his learning to ride the bike without training wheels, he seems to have gained so much more confidence in everything. He has made better friends with the boys at his school, talks to his teachers, talks to our neighbors, etc. I really do notice a big change in him in that respect.
Paulo is almost 4 and a half years, and started riding his balance bike since he was 2 years old. :)
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