look ma, no wheels

My son has told me that he knows how to do a lot of things including swim the English Channel, ride a motorcycle around the Wall of Death, drive a car in the Indy 500, be a high stakes gambler in Vegas and skydive and land on our roof (just to name a few). I always respond to his confidence with a down to earth and practical comment in a fatherly manner that tries to provide him with a REALITY CHECK.

Last night Noah asked me if we could move his training wheels up a bit so he could get closer to taking them off. So I got out the wrenches and soon found that we were at the top of our travel, so there was nowhere to go but OFF. He assured me that he was ready and that he "already knew how to ride a two wheeler with no training wheels". I was skeptical and told him to make sure Mom didn't care if we removed the wheels. Mom said it was fine but warned that it was going to take some work. Once again he told us "it was no big deal because he knew what he was doing".

I removed them right as it was getting dark outside and we decided to go for a test spin. Needless to say, it wasn't a successful run. I ran along beside, holding on to the seat the entire way as he clearly didn't have a clue what he was doing. We decided to call it a night...

This morning he told me that he was going to ride the "two wheeler" today by himself and I reminded him that I had to hold onto the seat to help him keep his balance and that he was going to need help from Mom today while I was at work. He said "it's no problem" and that he would be able to keep one of his hands on the seat and one on the handlebar to keep balance. I said "SURE you are"!

I got a phone call from Noah around 2:00 this afternoon saying that he was riding the bicycle by himself. Once again I said "Sure you are....". Well, when I got home he was in fact riding it by himself. I had to eat my words.

I've never been so proud in my life to be WRONG! He never ceases to amaze me!!

Awesome job, Buddy. Can't wait to ride the bike path with you.