The Dark Horses

Noah received a tricycle for his second birthday back in September.  He didn't ride it much, but did seem to like it and claim it has.  In February, Aden received a bike for his sixth birthday.  All of a sudden, Noah's desire to ride his bike increased.  A biker's club was spontaneously formed, and more frequent trips to the tennis court were being made (the only place in the complex where bikes can be ridden).  Aden and Noah rode all over, while Wiley contentedly ran up and down the court playing soccer by himself, or sometimes with Mommy or Daddy.  Amazingly, he never complained or asked for a bike.  One afternoon, about 2 or 3 weeks after Aden's birthday, when Aden and Noah were riding at home in our car port, with Wiley trying to kick a soccer ball in the same small space, Wiley came inside and quietly said to Mommy, "I wish I had a bike to ride."  But he quickly went back outside and watched his brothers ride. 

When we bought the bike for Aden's birthday, we knew that getting a bike for Wiley would follow close behind, so we found an afternoon to take Wiley and look for a bike.  He picked out a green balance bike, with no pedals, since the pedals seem to intimidate him and he hadn't yet mastered the coordination to keep them going.  Once the bike was assembled and ready to ride, he wasn't so sure anymore about it.  It kept wanting to tip over, and he was only comfortable sitting on it and just walking along one foot at a time.  By even the next day, his confidence seemed to be higher and he was getting better.  His comment was, "every time I ride my bike, it gets more and more used to me." Within a week, he was cruising all over the court and was becoming quite brave with his hairpin turns around the corners.  Besides all of that, the boy can flat out fly!  Having figured out now how to work his feet and coast, he can even outrace his older brother most of the time. 

Playing Kruger - Caracal crossing in the road

The hard part will be getting him to switch to a bike with pedals.  He has already told us that he never wants to have pedals because he can do so many tricks on his bike now.  
Now with three members in the biker club, trips are made to the tennis court sometimes two or three times in a day (at least until it gets too cold for morning rides).  One of their favorite things to do recently is to pretend their bikes are safari trucks and the court is Kruger park (usually one of the boys is crawling around on all fours, posing as an animal that is waiting to be spotted). 
 Mostly though, they just like to ride around the perimeter as fast as they can.  While doing that, they are usually singing Switchfoot's "Dark Horses" as loud as they can.  Even Noah surprisingly knows most of the words.   Because of that, they have decided that the name of their Biker Club should be none other than, The Dark Horses.