Carter can ride!

Winter may finally be coming to an end here on the Oregon coast. Two weeks ago I had five days off in a row! Sadly it rained everyday and McKay was sick, so I got to paint some walls and play the Wii. Ho-hum. But the sun has been out and the days have been beautiful and I have four days off this week! Sadly it's supposed to rain everyday again.

In the meantime I've been stealing an hour here and a half-hour there to teach Carter to ride a bike with no training wheels. We haven't had a chance because of the rain until now, but Carter is making up for lost time. A few days ago we got him a bigger bike (because he hasn't really fit on his 12 incher for over a year) and took him to a grassy park. I ran along holding the seat and it only took him a couple of tries to ride all by himself. Today we took him to a different park and he had a harder time because the grass was so thick - he couldn't get moving.

There's an asphalt jogging track at that park, so we moved over to that and I hovered closer, sure Carter would fall and skin something. Instead he took off like a bullet. You all know I like to run, but Carter gave me a good workout. I think he was moving at a good 6.5-7 mph - I wasn't sure how long I'd be able to keep up!

I couldn't just let him ride for a couple of reasons:

1. He gets confused when it's time to stop. I had to save him from running into a closed gate about 4 times today. (Look 100 yards ahead of Carter in the above picture)

2. When he finally does stop, he has trouble catching himself and he and the bike collapse to the ground in a little boy/metal & rubber pretzel.

We're working on that, but I can't let him go alone yet. So, here's me (below), running about as fast as I can without sprinting, my jacket now in my hand, flapping behind me. Suzanne thinks it's funny to see me pluck him off the bike when he's headed for a bad fall. The bike tips, he goes down... but OverProtective Dad swoops in to save the day.

Here's our little guy, too pooped to party anymore. He wore the helmet and protective gear in the car the whole way home. McKay is not ready to go without training wheels. He's still working on learning to pedal instead of scooting along Fred Flintstone style. (On Carter's old bike)

I think by the end of the summer they'll both be pros. Carter already has plans to ride to school. We'll see.