Holly M Nelson

 My "baby" turned three last June. Shortly after he finally gave up diapers. I had been trying to train him for a year. I thought it was hopeless! Then suddenly, out of the blue, he decided to be a big boy. Most of my boys have been right at the age of three. With the baby before, Noah, I thought I had actually gotten the potty training thing down! He was trained at barely two and a half. Then Luke comes along to bring me back to reality. Then I know for sure, It is the child not the parent. 
The age of three is another milestone for this family. It's when my boys rip their training wheels off their bikes, throw them in the trash, and ride off into the sunset. Or actually over bike ramps, through the mud, into poles, into ditches, and into each other. Okay, one child was a little older when he took his training wheels off. That's because he would rather be doing quadratic equations, and how was I supposed to say no to that? Now, I know the age of three seems like such a young age to some people to ride without training wheels. But we are a family of all boys, you know. Everything we do is very active. They love riding bikes together. Ryan, our first child, at age three saw an older kid at the park with no training wheels when he decided he was too old for training wheels,too. So what does any parent do? Take off the wheels and build bike ramps in the back yard to encourage his riding. Oh, the many days I spent outside sweating and freezing while helping him ride his bike on those ramps. Noah, our 4th, actually taught himself how to ride. He had just turned 3 when he decided. I watched him out of our kitchen window while I was peeling potatoes. He was done by the time I was done, 30 minutes! Are you amazed at what short time he taught himself, or how long it took me to peel potatoes? Hey, I feed a lot of hungry boys! Anyway, Daddy helped Luke the other night accomplish his goal of no training wheels. He was so proud. I wish a picture could show you the speed at which he was riding! He was flying...kind of like the last post! But the picture does capture what a ham he is, riding at lightning speed (look at his hair blowing!) around the corner all the while smiling for the camera! That's my boy! Oh, and please excuse the no socks, the no helmet. That's how we roll.... 


The next picture is Luke wrecking, and smiling, against the bike ramps. He's already trying to jump the ramps! He might be an overachiever. 

In case you were wondering, he is riding a 10" bike. His normal bike is a 12", but it got a flat tire that day. We always have flat tires around here!