Riding a 2 wheeler

A couple of weeks ago, the training wheels on his bike broke. Not too surprising given that he's pushing 70 lbs. It was hard enough to find training wheels on a bike this big. Guess they figure all kids will learn to ride without by the time their 5 or so.

This combined with the fact that the next-door-neighbor best-friend finally got a new bike and his dad is making a bit of an attempt at teaching him to ride without training wheels, makes this a great time to teach Firstborn. When he is determined to learn something, he does so quickly.

So we started on our street with Firstborn on the bike with no training wheels. I asked him to take his feet off the pedals and feel what it felt like to glide while I balanced him. He had a hard time giving up control of the pedals. He wanted to control the situation. But we pressed on with it a few minutes. Then I took him into the yard on the grass and worked with him on the mechanics of balance. Had him pick up the bike and get on it. Had him shift his weight from one side to the other while half on the seat.

Then I got him up on the seat and tipped the bike one way or the other while he practiced sticking his foot out to catch himself. This seemed to help his confidence a great deal. He likes that he knows how to respond to the movement of the bike. In all our work, he has only really dumped twice. Both were pretty controlled falls and his confidence is still pretty high.

Next step was to get him going in the yard and have him keep pedaling while I let go. He can get about 3 turns of the pedals before he chickens out and sticks a foot out.

I had to really go over how to balance on a bike with him. The mechanics of leaning his body to the other side when the bike lists to one side. I used a lot of physical cues like putting the bike in a tilted position and placing his shoulders and feet where they need to be so that he could understand since we can't really rely on verbal directions. This seems to help and I think that all he needs is a bit of time and a bit of belief that he can do it.

Before we start in the yard each day, we spend a few minutes getting the feel of gliding in the street. Therapist Lady says that's a technique they use at OTA, so I figure it can't hurt. He is much more comfortable with it now that he knows he can control the fall.

Certainly, working in the yard is not perfect since it is a small space and hard for him to get going well. It's harder to pedal on grass and it's hard to learn to ride when you have to navigate curves so frequently. I'm thinking of bringing him to the park sometime this weekend and getting a large grassy area for him to work in. Maybe we'll get the next door neighbor and his dad to join us.

I'm really happy with his progress though. We have worked on this for 3 days 15 -20 minutes each time. He seems to be getting determined and he will stop and say, see? I moved my shoulders that time. Or, I'm getting pretty good at turning aren't I?

Rounding it out

Currently, Firstborn is listening to the High Spectrum CDs of the set. Therapist Lady told me that these CDs would probably energise him.

Well, energized is something that Firstborn rarely feels, but the funk he was floating in on the previous CDs seems to have left him. He seems far more rested than ever before. He seems a bit less argumentive and the crying jags have been much fewer.

We have also seen great improvement in his voice volume. He does not yet initiate talking in an appropriate volume, but he does respond more quickly to requests to tone it down and seems to maintain the lower volume for longer.

I wish I could keep him in the high spectrum forever.

CD 7

We are working on CD 7 of the Level One kit. This is a high frequency spectrum CD. Therapist Lady says it is supposed to be energize and it seems to be that way. We have not had a single crying jag since beginning the CD.

We did miss 2 days this week due to a virus and fever. But the other days he has been doing the CD seem to have thrown a switch in him.

This has not been an easy week either. With Vacation Bible School on the agenda he has had little down time and no play time with his buddy next door.

Comparison Point to Last Year

Last year at this time, both kids were in Vacation Bible School and I noted that Firstborn was very easily moved to tears. Things like would you like a cookie would cause him fits of crying. I knew he was tired, but this seemed a bit much.

So, I was very interested in seeing his reactions to this year's bible school. And now, I can say what those are because we have just finished.

NO TEARS!!! He had fun and didn't complain about going at all. He seemed to have fun in the sing and play area where I think he was having the problems last year. Sing and Play is a large basement room where all 100 campers get together and sing songs and dance little dances. It can be loud and the kids are sitting pretty close together. For most kids, you see an expression of joy. They love the dancing and singing and the songs are indeed great fun. For Firstborn last year, this was not fun. He never held an expression of joy on his face and never participated.

I wasn't able to watch him in daily sing-and-play this year, but I did see the final performance and he seemed to be having fun. I told him that he didn't have to sing if he didn't want to but that I wanted him to at least try to do the hand movements and dancing. He did try and he did do a great job. And he did seem to have fun.

Some differences that might have also affected this outcome were that there were only 90 campers this year as compared to the usual 150 of previous years (including last year), and that he is working on the high frequency CDs which are supposed to energize.