Before taking the training wheels off, the girls had to demonstrate balancing on two wheels while riding up and down the street. Sasha got up on her bike right away and started riding up and down the street, gradually increasing the distance she was able to balance until she could ride halfway down the street on two wheels. Erika got frustrated early on in that she couldn't get the bike to pedal up the very small incline on our street. As we weren't buying her story that the bike was broken, she kept trying. It was still rough going, with her pushing bike up hill and riding down and then getting upset at us since we were telling Sasha she was doing a good job and not her and we were hurting her feelings (pout whine pout pout). I have to admit her crankiness forced us to tease her a bit by telling Sasha to "ride another lap around Erika". Eventually we had to go inside to cook and left Erika pouting at the end of street with her bike. When we came out later she was smiling as she finally had given it a try again and was able to balance on two wheels.
The next day the girls insisted on starting without the training wheels. The trick, as I had forgotten, about having no training wheels is getting the bike moving in the first place. This time, Erika caught on early and was peddling circles around Sasha. I heard her get her revenge for the previous day by dropping a "Ha! Ha!" as she rode past Sasha. I let it pass.
Here are some pics of the earlier success (I love Sasha's look of concentration). Now, a few weeks later, they are swooping around like they've been riding for years.
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