Dane's Big Boy Bike

A few months ago we found a Lightning McQueen bike on super clearance at Academy Sports, just in Dane's size. Too bad it was right after Christmas and nowhere near his birthday. I didn't want to just give him a bike for no real reason; we wanted it to be something special and exciting to him. So we hid it up in our attic and made a goal chart with Dane for him to put stickers on to help him "earn" his bike. He got to put stickers on it basically whenever I'd randomly think of it and use it to motivate him to obey and be happy. (He was going through a stinky three-nager phase and was really talking back a lot and not listening when we'd ask him to do things, so we hoped this might motivate him to get back to his happy, obedient self.) We kind of overdid it on the goal chart--it had 80 spots for stickers to get him to his bike, and it took a LONG time and a lot of stickers to get there. But he did it in the end!

And his face when he saw his bike for the first time--priceless. So, so cute. He could not believe it was a Lightning McQueen bike, and that it was so big.

The first few times we brought him out on the bike, he was scared even as he was getting on and didn't want to try it. Then he was happy to sit on it but couldn't manage to pedal. We could walk behind him and push him and he would pedal along.

But then one day last week he finally got it! It clicked! He started pushing really hard on his pedals and was moving all by himself. Look at that concentration! He was working so hard. It was one of the cutest things I ever saw. He can go up and down our sidewalk now all by himself, although he has tipped over a good number of times on our driveway. But he is getting braver and braver about it every time.

And little Graham boy is very happy to inherit the trike. He really and truly LOVES this trike, even if he doesn't sit on it. Every time we walk into the garage--aka, every time we have to get into the car--he looks for the trike and whines and squirms to get down and play with it. He just wants to tip it over and spin the wheels and push it around. I've had to hide it in the corner behind our bikes so I can get him into the car without screaming because he wants the trike.

Oh man, they are both so dang cute. Life is pretty exciting with them around.