No Training Wheels

Some Hungarians use training wheels on bikes when their children are young, but what seems to be the more common thing is to use something called a balance bike.  It is a bike without pedals.  Children use their feet to push off from the ground and stop, and they can hold their feet up which helps them learn to balance.  We bought a bike with training wheels from someone for Ethan last year but this summer we also borrowed a balance bike from a friend.  Ethan used both during the summer and I kept thinking he was more than ready to try his bike without training wheels.  However, we didn’t seem to have many opportunities to bike this summer, so we never took them off.

Finally, in September we took the training wheels off.  We were going to drive to a nicely paved road in our area that was large and flat for Ethan to practice.  I was getting my camera and putting my shoes on when Gary walked in the house and said that Ethan was already riding the bike around the street.  Ethan basically just said he wanted to try, got on the bike and started riding it on his own!

So, unfortunately, we didn’t get to see (or take pictures of) Ethan riding the bike for the very first time without training wheels, but I did rush out of the house soon after to watch and get some pictures. Sienna enjoyed riding the trike (passed down from Ethan) while he rode the bike.