Not that easy! I admit that there have been some very frustrating moments for both of us, but every time he makes progress we are overjoyed. He spent his first day of training jumping off the bike and hurting himself over and over again. He was afraid to fall so every time I let go he would leap off and end up flying over the bike or twisted up under it, and twice he even managed to fling his person and his bike down a hill and into a ditch. I think he would have had less bumps and bruises if he had just let himself fall.
On day two we just worked on braking, so that hopefully he would brake instead of jumping.
Yesterday was day 3 and he spent a good hour doing nothing but braking. I would let go and he would throw on the brakes. After many deep breaths I finally convinced him that if he wanted to ride a bike, he needed to pedal forward!!!
And then....
He still brakes, or falls (and he has learned that the falling is way less hazardous than the jumping) after about 20 seconds of riding and he still needs me to hold the bike while he starts so today we will work on riding longer and tomorrow I will try to teach him to start without anyone holding the bike for him. I may need some patience prayers but we are well on our way to success.
And how crazy is this? Alex celebrated two childhood rites of passage yesterday when he FINALLY lost his first tooth at 7 1/2 years old. I told him I thought it was about ready to go and he reached in and popped it out all by himself. No drama or tears. He was so quiet about it that I didn't even realize it was gone until I saw blood.
He is so excited to finally have a gap in his smile. It has been driving him crazy that he was the only one in his class with baby teeth. I was the same age when I lost my first tooth so I totally remember feeling so left out but I love that my kids lost teeth late because they never look the same again after that first tooth falls. Still beautiful, but never the same.
Alex even made his bed so that the tooth fairy would be able to find his pillow since it is usually just mixed in to the nest somewhere. Still 20 plus blankets up there but now they are all laying flat.
And of course our overly generous tooth fairy paid a visit. When Alyssa lost her first tooth I put a $2 bill under her pillow but Seth thought she would save the $2 and should have some money she could spend too so he slipped a 5 under her pillow. Who the heck gives $5 for a missing tooth? But since we did it for Alyssa we had to do it for Alex. Don't worry, after the first tooth they only get $2 per tooth.
Such a big day for Big Al!
8 comments:
Wow! Congrats Al!! You are officially a BIG kid now. Losing teeth and riding a bike?!? Fun day!!! Btw, he looks adorable!
Good job Alex! Our kids will probably have training wheels until they are 16 and trade them in for four tires. :)
Yay...I'm so happy for you Al!!!!
Love that gappy smile too. Your tooth fairy must have money coming out of his ears. Or hers. Although, I love the idea of a $2 bill..they aren't as common and its kindof hard to spend $1 these days.
Way to go riding the bike and of course mom for patience and determination...by day 2 I would have given up!
At least riding your bike is one of those things you never forget!!
Don't tell my kids what the tooth fairy gives at your house! They only get a dollar per tooth, including the first one. And great job on having the patience to teach bike riding. After Samm I told Josh that he would have to teach James. Of course when Josh went out with him last summer to do it, James hopped on his bike and took off down the street and that was it. When Macy wants to learn I will make sure he knows that it's still his turn.
Way to go Alex! Two big rites of passage in the same week is just awesome! Love the smile. As great as he's doing with the kick brick stuff, I was surprised he was so worried about no training wheels, but he's going to love riding without them after he gets the total hang of it.
Lost teeth, riding without trainers...hooray for Alex for finally becoming a "big kid". He looks really excited and proud of himself. It's fun to see when the kids finally "graduate" beyond being "littles".
Love this! Way to go Alex! In my family we all lost our teeth really late compared to friends too, so my dad told us it was because our teeth were so much healthier or stronger or something. Total hooey I'm sure, but I always liked the sound of it.
And if Alex ever complains about all of his baby teeth again, you can just tell him that his primary teacher still has 2 baby teeth. Yup, there are still two of them in my mouth. No adult teeth to push them out. Someday I'm sure they'll just fall out and I'll need fake ones, but for now, I'm sure he'll beat me to getting a full mouth of adult teeth!
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