Ethan's Surprise

Ethan's Surprise was awesome!
Last summer, he attended a Pedalheads Bike Camp for a week. They all but guarantee that kids will be off training wheels in a week. Well, Ethan was the "all but". It was hysterical, the 15 year old instructor looking at me and saying, "I don't know what to do; he's the most stubborn kid I've ever met!" He took off the training wheels and rode for a short stretch when bribed with snacks, only to demand they put them back on again once said snack was consumed. Despite the training wheels issue, though, he had a "million times fun" that week. Which is why it was so perplexing why he wouldn't even try to take them off again for this whole year past.

Well, on Monday after we dropped Mike at the airport, I had a brainwave. I said to Ethan, "Wouldn't it be awesome if you learned to ride without training wheels this week, and then we brought Daddy out on Saturday morning just in time to see you riding by. WHAT would his face LOOK like?"

He was intrigued. So all last week, while Mike was away, we added to our bruise collections bit by bit.
On Tuesday, he had his breakthrough day where he could go two pedals' worth on his own. On Wednesday, I could hardly walk. Running hunched over with one hand on the back of the seat is NOT so good for this ol' back. Thursday was the day when he could ride all the way down the lane on his own. He can stop on his own too, but has only started off by himself twice and still has trouble with anything but the mildest of turns.
However, the pride on his face on Saturday morning made me well up. When E. and I were ready, we got Jack to bring a blindfolded Mike out to the end of the driveway, and we yelled "Look" just as Ethan rode by. It was an awesome moment and well worth the week of hard work.