Penelope on Two Wheels!

This summer Penelope learned to ride without training wheels!

We have a balance bike with no pedals that she uses sometimes but it really is quite small.  Before this bike she had one about the same size but with training wheels.  She was perfectly happy to ride that forever but Scarlett was more then ready to take it over.  So we kind of made her learn to ride without the training wheels.

We started by keeping the training wheels placed up a little higher than normal.  That way they only touch the ground when needed and we encouraged her to practice balancing and not letting the training wheels touch the ground.  I think because she could do that learning to ride without the training wheels was a piece of cake.

The hardest part for her was definitely getting up the nerve and desire to ride without training wheels.

The first day we went out to give it a try Penelope and Tucker were both excited.  We made sure she had elbow and knee pads because I knew if she had one bad fall she would not try again this summer.  While I was inside getting my camera stuff ready Tucker pretty much taught her how to do it.  I ran out and got this video of one of her very first tries.


She never really falls.  She is so careful and hesitant that anytime she gets worried she just puts her feet down.  It isn't very dramatic at all.

This next video is the next day with Bob helping her.  You can tell that all of the initial excitement has worn off.


And the last video is how she rides now.  She has got it down pretty well except I've never seen her even attempt the brakes.  And We tried to put her in a bigger bike but she refuses.  I think she likes that she can put her feet down very easily.