Learning to Ride His Bike–April 22, 2011

Since Drew had Good Friday off from work, he took advantage of that afternoon to spend time encourage Jasper to ditch his training wheels.  On a few occasions previously, Jasper would go on one or two rides without his training wheels, but he always wanted them put back on.  Drew is patient, enthusiastic and encouraging, and he was ready to spend a few hours to help Jasper get over the hump of needing his training wheels. 

Look at the look of determination on Jasper’s face.  Wherever did he get that? hmm ….

 

Drew never left his side – either on foot or on wheels for the entire time he helped Jasper learn to go faster, to stay straight, etc.

Of course, there was the understandable learning curve – riding slow is tough when you’re just learning, and he’d teeter off to one side or the other … but he just kept going. 

He loved his cheering section: Benjamin, Ella and Mr. David and mommy. 

Even when he fell, he just dusted himself off (sometimes got a couple hugs) and got back on his bike.

 

Benjamin is Jasper’s #1 fan!  Spontaneously clapping and saying, “Yeah, Jasper!”  He also is a fan of our neighbor, Ella.

 

Look at the ease with which Jasper turns the bike!  Thank you, Mr. Skuut!

Benjamin is always moving, so it’s actually pretty hard to get a good shot of him with the camera.  I was lucky to capture his sweet face.

 

Riding on daddy’s wheel is a great place to be.

By the end of a couple of hours, he was ready to take on the roads by himself (under our watchful eye, of course). 

The day after he learned how to ride without his training wheels, Drew rode with him down to the cul-de-sac behind our house to ride with the kids down there (Fred, Andreas, Eric & Caroline).  He was just screaming around the circle, even going down an inclined driveway to pick up speed.  Everyone was amazed!  When they learned he had first really learned how to ride on a Skuut, the next week Fred’s dad bought him a Skuut and after 2.5 weeks of riding it, Fred was able to take his training wheels off, too!  Proven success! (if only a slightly small sample size.)