Guess who just learned to ride without training wheels?

Ben has really been all about this no training wheels business ever since he got his bike from Santa. Almost immediately after Christmas he got to the point where we had raised his training wheels up as high as they could go, so he was pretty much balancing on two wheels. And then he plateaued a little bit and rode around like that for a few months. He didn't show much interest in going beyond that level so we didn't pressure him. But the other day we went for a ride down the street, and I just casually asked him if he might be ready to take off his training wheels. "No! Not until I'm a big kid." Ok. No problem. I waited a few minutes, and then said "Well, it's up to you. But I think that you are doing a really great job, and I think that you can take the wheels off any time you want. But if you want to wait that's ok." It's like something just clicked, and he immediately said "Ok, I want them off now." I think he honestly hadn't realized that he didn't have to be a big kid in order to ride on two wheels. So, we went and knocked on the door to Joel's shop/office, and he came out and took off the wheels. Then Joel got on his bike and they went for a ride together.

I'm really proud of Ben for taking this leap and not being afraid. He even wiped out a couple of times on his first ride sans training wheels, and it didn't phase him at all. I can't believe that he got a trike for his 3rd birthday last year, and now we're a week away from his 4th birthday and he's riding a bike!