This past year Norah has been using a balance bike to prepare for a "big girl" bike. You can spend a pretty penny on balance (or "coaster") bikes, but Scott found the smallest bike he could and removed the pedals. Voila! Both of their kids transitioned straight to a bike with no training wheels after mastering their balance on this little bike and scooters. We planned to try the same route.
For much of the year Norah wasn't all that interested but this fall she got more adventurous on both the balance bike and scooter she got for her birthday. We continued to reiterate that once she learned how to coast with her feet off the ground she would be ready for a big girl bike.
Despite her fear of Santa she managed to tell him she wanted a purple bike for Christmas. (Purple has consistently been her favorite color for a long time now.) So Seth and I started hunting for the perfect purple bike.
Oh, the pain.
Girls bikes are terrible in my opinion. I was somewhat prepared after hearing about friend Lisa's bike search last year. It is really hard to find a girl's bike that does not fall into the "prissy" category. In fact, I was amazed at how hard it is just to find one that does not have princesses or Dora on it.
And what is with the white tires? White tires on a bike...that is obviously meant to get dirty? I mean it is an outdoor item. In what I consider a weak moment Seth was almost willing to settle for a Hello Kitty bike. I know why - because he could imagine the sparkle in Norah's eyes on Christmas morning. But I couldn't do it. After two months of searching for a non-prissy bike I absolutely could not get myself to purchase a while and pink Hello Kitty bike.
After hours looking online, several store runs and phone calls, we finally settled on a purple bike...well it is actually more turquoise, but it does have some purple on it. I drove almost an hour, fought pre-Christmas store craziness and insane lines to make the purchase.
The next day--just two days before Christmas--Norah announced that her favorite color wasn't purple anymore.
"Seth," I yelled from the bedroom where we were to the kitchen where he was. "Norah's favorite color isn't purple anymore."
"Oh, great," I heard in response.
Luckily it was temporary. She was so excited when she saw the bike on Christmas morning.
She couldn't get enough of riding it around the house (with our help). We packed it up to take it with us to the lake so she could practice.
Turns out everyone wanted a turn on the new bike.
But what about Norah? She loved it, too. And every time she rode that day we helped her less and less.
The next day we rode more at Lisa and Scott's. Since she can barely touch the ground on her new bike, she also practiced with a smaller bike that they have. With us running beside her she rode down past about 3 or 4 houses, around the cul-de-sac and back without any help.
We have practiced every day since then and she now rides a half of a block down the street, turns around, and rides back by herself. We still run beside her, but mainly to watch for cars. We have also been working on starting and stopping and she is really getting the hang of it. I didn't anticipate how fun it would be to see my kid learn how to ride a bike!
