Baby O on 2 wheels

Owen after dropping Matthew off at El Carmelo

There he is on his Christmas bike complete with hood on "to keep the wind out of [his] ears". Owen had been jealously eying his brother's 2-wheeler for months and was riding Matthew's balance bike in an effort to keep up. He announced firmly he would like a 2 wheeled bike WITH pedals for Christmas. Santa obligingly provided a snazzy little red 2 wheeler (with pedals) on Christmas morning.

Turns out it is absolutely true that balance bikes teach kids how to ride without training wheels. Stewart took Owen to the schoolyard on Christmas afternoon hoping to impart a few nuggets of fatherly wisdom and teach Owen how to ride his new bike. He was hugely proud and  just a little disappointed that Owen did not require any instruction. He just hopped onto his new bike and pedaled off happily. It did take him a little while to be fully comfortable but after repeated requests to please, please ride to El Carmelo both boys happily ride to school every morning. In fact, I've had to dust off my old mountain bike because I can't keep up on foot.

Everyone, it seems, is working on bicycle related skills. For Matthew, travel from point A to B is simply not exciting enough anymore. Even racing ahead, slamming on the breaks and skidding to a stop is starting to lose its luster.  Today, we had a startling conversation about the merits of riding the bicycle off pieces of playground equipment (generally not a good idea and absolutely no slides!). So far he seems fearless, and undeterred by crashing and nearly flipping the bike over on himself.  His response was that had he been going faster, he would not have fallen. In this case, he was completely correct, but I feel a little apprehensive about this new development.