PJ's new bike

PJ got a bike for his 6th birthday. Since then, it has sat there with training wheels on it. He did ride it for a while, but never really showed any interest in riding it very much. For one thing, he couldn't ride it in the yard. We live on a very busy street and didn't want him in the front. So, that meant that he had to ride it in the backyard. The tires weren't made for the terrain of a yard. He rode it some, but mostly it just sat there.

Yesterday he wanted to ride it more. Ok, so get a pump for the tires and pump them up and get him going on it. He got his helmet on, and off came the training wheels. He did ok, it was still very hard for him to ride in the yard. But he did try very hard to ride it alone. No broken bones, no scraps, no bruises. Not too bad.

Today, after Chuck and I got done with everything that needed to be done this morning, he thought that buying him a bike would be nice. They are good kids, they are kids too, and things like this make them happy. PJ's grades haven't been very good, so we thought that positive reinforcement would be the thing for him.

Chuck went over to school to check him out early and to take him up to Wal-Mart. Chuck texted me a few times about the whole process of size and everything, but in the end he found one that he really wanted. First of all, PJ is small, he always has been. So, getting him a bike that is a little too big for him is better than one that he fits on right now and won't be able to use in a year was out of the question. Secondly, we wanted him to have a bike that will last longer than a year.

They get home, "Mommy, I got a new bike!" And along with the new bike came elbow pads and knee pads. He is gonna need them! "Ok PJ, get your homework done, then you can ride your bike."


Now, if I had a video camera out I would have taped it for y'all to see this little bitty. PJ gets going really nicely on his bike, about to run into my car, swerves and misses it, down the hill, picking up speed as he is about to hit the neighbor's house, swerves and misses that, and ends up in his flowers. "Ok that was fun!" For him maybe, but for me, not really.



He is having a problem with steering and making it go in the direction that he should be going. So, when he was heading to the flower bed, he decided to lay it down so he wouldn't crash.

I was out there with him for a little while. Ran with him and held on to the bike when he needed it. He is, though, having issues with balancing it. It is more bike than he can handle right now, but this is good practice for him. He wants to ride the greenway with our neighbor. Sounds like fun to him. Now if we can just get Eric on a bike, we all can go biking together while on vacation.