Good-bye, Training Wheels (or Can My Three Year Old REALLY Ride a Two-Wheeler?)

The answer is unbelievably "Yes!"

Reagan has been asking since we first pulled her bicycle back out this spring if we could take her training wheels off.  Our compromise earlier in the summer had been to raise the training wheels up to see if she could balance.  John didn't think that was going so well, so he lowered them back down and we hoped she'd give it a rest. 

We were wrong.

Today, we attempted no training wheels with the hope that she would get frustrated and would stop asking to take them off.  But I guess when Reagan wants to do something, there is no stopping her. 

After a shaky start first at home, then in a soccer field, and finally in a large parking lot she was showing a lot of improvement, but definitely enough that we thought the training wheels would stay off. 

After lunch, John and Reagan were back at it and each run got a little longer than the last one.

The breakthrough came after naptime.  After a few more straight runs, Reagan mastered turning and now she was unstoppable.  She spent two hours riding up and down the street, turning up the finger streets and around the neighboring cul-de-sac. 

The training wheels will not be going back on the bike!