We have a busy weekend coming up. Amelia, Abigail, and Gabriel turn four on Friday. That afternoon our friends Kevin and Christie are coming to visit for the weekend with their ten month old baby boy Max. While they're here we're going to be plenty busy with a fabulous birthday party on Saturday, date night for the grown-ups on Sunday, plus I'm sure a lot of other filler to keep us busy for a few days until they fly home to North Carolina on Monday. I'm really excited about their visit. I haven't seen them for a couple years at least, but we once lived in the same building together on the Upper East Side of Manhattan and have been good friends ever since. I'm really excited to meet Max and of course I relish any opportunity to show off my own gorgeous brood of children. But all that to say that with so much on our plate over the kids' birthday weekend, Garrett and I figured we better get going with their birthday present from mommy and daddy before the day came and went. So this past Saturday we took them to the bike shop!
Wow, to think that I'm getting bikes for my kids when only last year they were mastering tricycles. There's something really big and grown up about two-wheelers, even if they do come outfitted with training wheels. These bikes are big and they go fast and they have real brakes and goodness gracious, my kids are just getting so darn big. For the last few weeks we've been borrowing a balance bike from the neighbor down the street. Balance bikes are basically two-wheelers without pedals with seats low enough that the kids can propel themselves with their feet, Flintstone's style. The idea is that they learn how to balance before complicating the matter with pedals, and they can skip straight to regular two-wheelers without training wheels. I love the concept and am impressed that Gabriel is already doing great balancing, and Amelia is well on her way. Abigail hasn't practiced as much with the balance bike, but I'm sure she would catch on quickly. We decided to buy them regular bikes because balance bikes can be pricey and they are just a temporary step. I had decided we would just take the pedals off their regular bikes and lower the seats so they could simulate the balance bike idea until they were comfortable putting the pedals back on. Unfortunately, when you buy bikes for three kids at a time, you look for ways to be economical. Like buying from Toys r Us instead of the local bike shop. And Toys R Us doesn't specialize in especially adjustable bikes, so when we got them home we realized the seats do not go low enough to allow the kids' feet to touch the ground.
Bummer.
So, the quasi-balance bike idea isn't going to work. Oh well. Training wheels it is, with a dose of continued borrowing of the neighbor's balance bike when it's available. On the up side, the cool thing about the bikes they got is they look perfect! Bright colors, princesses, purple glitter, tassles, cool BMX styling... the works. The kids are super excited about riding their own bikes and though it will take some time to get their legs under them, so to speak, I'm pleased that they are excited and I feel like I am just watching them grow up by the minute the more comfortable they get. We've gone on a bike ride around the neighborhood every day this week and they're getting more and more confident. It's very fun!
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