Making progress

I can't believe we rode our bikes all the way to the park today.

About a week ago, we drove to a auto shop around the corner, dropped the van off, and all took a bike ride home. Sam decided he didn't want to ride on the tricycle that had a convenient handle on the back for me to push. He walked the whole way home, while I pulled the trike. Rose zipped from block to block, waiting at each for us. And then DD. He has a 16" bike with training wheels. He's still a bit nervous about riding it, but I know he can. We went a about four blocks, walking the bikes across each intersection. Then it happened. DD came upon the end of the block sooner than he thought, had to swerve around Rose, and then braked hard. But he was starting down the ramp to the street. It was all too much for his little training wheels and he just fell. So he walked his bike after that. I kept coaxing him to get back on. He did at one point. He went so slow, though, and kept braking every few minutes, I had a hard time walking behind him. So he go off and walked again. I finally told him, that after we crossed the street (this is about eight blocks after the fall), he had to get back on the bike. He fought it. I insisted. We worked it out that I would hold on to the back of his bike (while pulling the trike). So we went about a half a block that way. He took off, and rode all the way home (about half of the distance of our trip).Yeah!

So today, I told Rose she had to ride her 'big' bike. She does fine without training wheels, but we recently got her a 16" bike. She fell once because she doesn't know how to handle the height with stopping. We practiced several times in the driveway, and I held on to her bike as she learned to stop and put her foot down before the bike fell over. So I thought we'd ride to the end of the long block. We made it all the way there, even with Sam riding in the tricycle. We did so well, we kept going to the bike path that takes you to the nearby park. It was great!