Saturday, January 3, 2009

He Can Do It!


He made a goal and he reached it! Yes, Nathan told us over Christmas break that he wanted to be able to ride his bike without training wheels before break was over. I enlisted advice from my friend Shannon who found great success from a video she watched, which helped her daughter learn to ride without training wheels in minutes. The theory seemed simple enough. Unsure if it would “work” for us, we gave it a try and whalla, it did. It took about 15 minutes and look at our big six year old…he’s a riding fool! Way to go Nathan, we are so very proud of you! Not only did you work hard and trust your daddy, but more importantly, you made a goal and worked towards it until you accomplished what you wanted to. That’s a lifelong skill!


For those who want to know what we did…without training wheels, Nathan sat on his bike. Jon, behind him kept the bike in one place but leaned it from side to side (in no pattern). Nathan was instructed to move his handle bars in the direction he felt the bike move (move into the “curve”).



Once his brain was really capturing this with ease, Jon then began to move the bike forward with one hand behind. It didn’t take but a minute or so before Jon could run along side of him, hands out cheering Nathan on. Before Jon knew it, Nathan started peddling harder than Jon could keep up and he was off…for good! Amazing times a thousand if you ask me!







3 comments:

Jason Addink said...

Great job Nathan! (and mom and dad.)

We have yet to really attempt with Ella. She is such a scared little thing, our one attempt at riding without training wheels did not go well (even with me holding the bike.)

Jason Addink said...

Oh yeah, I love that last picture of him riding off down the walkway.

Rachel Olimb said...

Congrats, Nathan!

I agree with Jason, that last picture is really great!