A Diva and a Dude: Not learning to ride a bike...

Yesterday we discovered Riley's newest skill: Riding a bike without training wheels. No learning to ride a bike involved. Just riding it as if she has known how to do this all along. The night before, she had seen her pal Olivia's Facebook video of her riding her bike down the sidewalk without training wheels. So naturally she wanted to go do the same. Unfortunately a storm was blowing in so we weren't able to get out and give it a shot. I did go ahead and take the training wheels off so that we could give it a go the next day.

So yesterday morning, before school and work, she wants to go out and ride. We initially told her we didn't have time, because naturally we assumed there would be some trial and error involved here...and probably some frustration on her part considering she inherited my lack of patience. While the rest of us finished up the usual morning routine, I told her she could go out and practice balancing in the garage at least. Of course in her world that means "Yes, go ahead and go ride your bike".

A few minutes later she's wanting us to come outside and watch her. I'm expecting to see her maybe go a few feet or so balancing. Wrong. She's half way up the drive-way, giving herself a push off, and then down she comes...pedaling, perfectly balanced, and stopping herself without even the slightest sign of falling off the bike. The stopping part is where I figured she would have the issues. Amazing. No idea how she goes from riding with training wheels to just instantly riding without them without any help, training, help balancing to get going...nothing. Just instant bike
rider.

Face time with Olivia in Chicago. Thanks for the nudge Olivia :)

Big girl bed

A few months ago I did try to get her going without training wheels, but it was a one-day deal and she wanted the training wheels back on. I had basically held onto her shoulders to let her get a feel for the bike and what it felt like to not have the training wheels holding her up. But that was back in May...for maybe five-ten minutes...and we haven't even attempted anything since.

I'm sure there will be some bumps to come, but it's just awesome how quickly she picked it up, even riding up the drive-way and all the way over to the neighbor's house without the slightest issue. Pretty cool.