Well, not really flight. But I think he felt like he did.

For the past couple years, I've tried my best to encourage Jey to take the training wheels off his bike. He wasn't overly interested in his bike so that practice time wasn't happening. This spring he fell in love with his scooter all over again and was getting better and better with his balance. Yesterday afternoon, while Joshua was down for a nap, I watched Jey roll around the driveway on his scooter. He did some fancy, schmancy swirls and tricks with perfect balance.

There is no way this kid has any excuse for not riding his bike with no training wheels!

Except he had in his mind that he was going to hurt himself without them. So I asked him if we could take them off long enough to try it out and if he didn't like it, we could always put them back on. He reluctantly offered a compromise: just loosen them. OK, whatever. I "loosened" them and helped him up and down the driveway. He was so nervous that he gripped the handle bars and was so stiff he could hardly steer. All the while he was oblivious that I wasn't really holding on and he wasn't using the training wheels! He then decided it was enough practice and went back to his scooter. When Daddy came home, he "helped" Jey a couple times the same way I did. Later that evening, while Daddy was grilling burgers, I tried to encourage Jey to take them off again. He finally agreed and while Daddy took them off, I ran in the house to get the video camera (of course!) while he donned his "Storm Trooper" Helmet (lol).

He walked his bike to the side of the van and hesitantly started off...



Ready, set...


Go!




I was so proud of my little guy! Watching the video and seeing the pics I took afterwards, I'm cracking up at how he really has outgrown this bike. Since he hardly rode it, I hadn't really noticed! Those long, skinny legs just make it worse. haha

He was so proud of himself we decided to take a ride around the neighborhood. He proudly told everyone along the way about his accomplishment. He even asked if he could ask the neighbor to race with him. I was really impressed that he never fell off the bike. He caught himself a couple times but never really fell. He was so encouraged that the moment we got home, he found the training wheels and grinning like the Cheshire Cat, marched to the trash to toss them. I convinced him to save them for Joshua to use soon.

This was yesterday. Today, all he wanted to do was ride around outside. Daddy rode with him to Aunt Linda's while mommy stayed home with sleeping Joshua. The three rode on the Green Belt around town and ended up riding about 6 miles. Jeremiah was not tired at all and was still just beaming with pride. He has been walking around like he could conquer the world. We're pretty proud of him, too. There's just something awesome about watching your kid accomplish something he was afraid of. :)

"YES!"


P.S. Here he is calling my mom to tell her all about it...