He begged and pleaded for a solid week for us to remove the training wheels, and each time, we told him that if he'd wait until the weekend, Daddy would help him learn to ride his bike.
We just knew that taking off those training wheels would mean hours and hours of chasing him up and down the street, stooped over, holding onto the back of his seat to keep him from teetering to one side or the other before he got the hang of it.
That's a big commitment. One I was not willing to undertake with a baby on my hip.
So he waited, and eagerly stood watch as Daddy finally pulled out his tool box and removed the training wheels.
The two headed into the road, looked both ways, and Caleb climbed up onto his big boy bike, checking behind him to be sure Daddy had a good hold on him so he wouldn't fall. He pushed the peddles around once, then once more, and he was off, with Daddy stooped over behind him, hands firmly gripping the back of his seat while Caleb gained confidence and stability.
And then, just like that, it happened.
As Caleb's feet pushed the peddles around more and more quickly, the role of the bike-holder-upper became less and less critical.
I watched as his dad let go, and my four-year-old peddled off down the street after his big sister, totally unaware that he was doing it on his own.
He's already proving himself a force to be reckoned with. Abby has tired of inviting him to race her to the cul-de-sac and back. It took only a a few occasions of being lapped by her younger brother to take the fun out of the competition for her.
Now they simply ride, much too fast and much too fearlessly, in my opinion, up and down the street until the sun goes down or I offer them popsicles to bribe them to come inside. Caleb is loving his newfound freedom, and Abby is loving having another big kid to ride with.
The training wheels are officially a thing of the past for Caleb. He's unstoppable now.
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