Titus and the Two-Wheeler

Titus has been riding a "mini-glider" bike since last spring when he was just over 2 years old.  In the last week he really got good at putting both of his feet up on the pegs and gliding or coasting.  Then he started asking to ride his big blue pedal bike.  We bought the bike (a 16-17 inch frame) last year, knowing that it would be at least a year, maybe more until he could ride it.  Brian got it out and though he can sit on the seat and reach the handlebars and the pedals, it is way too big.

However, Titus did manage to ride it without training wheels!!

Titus kept asking to ride his big bike, so on Sunday we made a run to Toys R Us in Fort Wayne to check out their bike options.  We had looked at used bikes at Tarkyo first, but the 12 inch frame was too small and the 16 inch frame was too big ...  Lucky for us, Toys R Us carries a couple 14 inch frames, even though they are not advertised online.  We finally decided to go ahead and get a 14 inch frame for him.

Brian put it together with some help from Titus.  Here they are with it almost ready to ride.

To say Titus was excited would be an understatement.  He was thrilled and Brian couldn't put the bike together fast enough.

Here he is getting on the bike for the first time.  The nice thing about a glider bike is that the kids learn to balance a bike, thus negating the need for training wheels.  So there are no training wheels on Titus' new green bike.

Ready to go on the new green bike with his helmet.  We are not super into safty equipment, but since the bike is just a little big for Titus and he has trouble getting on and off without help, he has to wear his helmet when riding the green bike - at least until he doesn't crash every few seconds.

Yesterday Titus could ride about 5 feet without needing either Brian or I to catch him from falling over sideways.  He laughed and smiled the whole time.  We also only had to walk to keep up with him.

This afternoon, he progressed to requiring us to jog to keep up with him and can do a complete lap of the driveway without falling over or running into anything.  He's also starting to figure out how to catch himself when he starts to fall.  He's finished his lap in the back yard a couple of times, which may become the norm as the grass slows and steadies him enough that he doesn't fall over.

Now he just has to figure out how to get started without help and he'll be on his own on his two-wheeled bicycle.