Milestone: Riding a Bike!

Carl has been riding a balance bike all summer. First it was a bike a neighbor lent to us and then it was a beautiful red bike that Scott's grandparents bought for him. While Soren was struggling to master his bike, Carl was zipping around with ease on this clever invention:

This Saturday, though, he used some of his birthday money (yes, he still had birthday money!) to buy a $5 bike at DI. It is a little girl's bike with Dora the Explorer on it but he fell in love with it and so we carted it home in the trunk of our car.

For his first ride, I held onto the handlebars while he climbed on. I ran alongside, balancing the bike for him, Sven hanging heavily in the baby carrier. But I soon found that he needed very little help from me to stabilize the bike. After he figured out pedaling, he was doing it mostly on his own. And when he was going downhill, it was a breeze. Within 15 minutes, he was soon cruising down the driveway all by himself.

When he realized that he had figured it out, he shouted to me, "Are we going to have a party tonight?" I guess he remembered Soren's bike-learning party and he wanted one for himself! Since Saturday was date night, we didn't have one that night but Scott and I bought the stuff for it after our date.

Sunday, he practiced going uphill all afternoon. I also taught him to get on and start the bike all by himself.

At 5 o'clock Sunday evening, he invited the Cowarts to his bike-learning party. First, he showed off his new skills, then he invited them over for pop and ice cream. Soren made a "Congratulations, Carl!" banner and we all enjoyed the celebration.

I am astonished at how quickly he learned to do it. Go, Carl!

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