Bike Riding and some nice weather

Nick has been enjoying the nice weather. No more snow, no more winter coats! At least for now

While I was reading and relaxing on our porch, Nick came out to tell me that he loves me this much. And of course practice his independent standing.

And so we pulled out their bikes for the year
They had lots of fun on their first bike ride of the season
(with blue mouths for some candy)

Out Riding his Bike!

Katheryn has started Sparks, part of Girl Guides last month. She meets for an hour at the school gym.

The first night Nick and I dropped her off, went home, he fell asleep and 30 minutes later I had to wake him up and go and pick Katheryn back up.

Since it is in a nice and flat school parking lot (not like our street which is a hill) I thought it might be a great opportunity to pull out Nick's bike!

 

 

I posted a little sneak peak on facebook of Nick riding away from me (all by himself).

 

There were a couple of speed bumps in the parking lot. Nick would stop in front of them and ask for help. But I thought he could get over them himself. So he was going really fast, went over... and his bike fell over.

Now Nick is all strapped into his bike. A strap around his waist, his feet are strapped in.

Luckily he just got a bump on his elbow, (it is a 5cm bruise now), he cried a bit but wanted to go back out on his bike

 

He had a great time going where ever he wanted. Over here! Over there! In circles! He even went up on the ramp by the school doors.

He has so much fun we are looking for more opportunities to get him on the road (or parking lot)!

'Lil Bikers

We pulled out the bikes this weekend to try them out at Grandma Ridding's house (Katheryn got a new bike now that her collar bone is healed).

 

 

First we practiced in the backyard until they were ready for the street.

 

 

 

Pretty soon we were ready to get moving!

 

This is the bike that we got for Nick last year. We didn't use it as much as we wanted to, it was still a bit big this year but it fits him a lot better now.
It has a couple of features like a seat with a back, seat belt, pedals with foot support and Velcro, and direct-drive so it is easier to push. No parent handle, so we just push him using the seat and of course training wheels. They are a bit thicker than Katheryn's training wheels.

 

The kids had a great time, I was pushing Nick around, Katheryn was off doing her own riding around in a circle (no cars).

Then we decided to see what Nick could do himself, without us pushing!

He was pedaling on his own, starting... and if you watch the video... but needing some help to stop.

 



 

And Katheryn was getting used to her bigger bike too!

They had so much fun! It was a great Mother's Day gift to see them enjoying their bikes so much!
 
By the way, in the video you can see all of the branches and tree limbs left over from the December ice storm.

A Big Surprise

We brought Nick home a big surprise!
It was something that he has really needed. And was another parental-fail over the last couple of months. It was March when we went to the bike fair and found what we wanted/needed. And June when it became painfully obvious that what we had was just not working for him.

We looked at funding, and talked about it, but didn't do anything about it. And the summer is slipping away and still we have no bike for Nick. I didn't want to wait, and I didn't want to pay too much, and I wanted something to work. But it didn't magically happen (I think my fairy duster is broken).

Luckily I have an amazing connection to used pediatric equipment! With Zach's List! (There is a link on the bottom of my blog as well. Because surely someone has a bike their kid has outgrown!
And we found one.
And we got it and brought it home. It has almost everything we were looking for (it's just missing a parent handle)

Nick was so surprised when we showed him! "That's for me?!"

And felt like such a big boy when we put him on it!

 

It is a touch big, which is perfect! But his feet reach the pedals, and he reaches the handle bars. So it is perfect!

 

The next day we could really try it out!

 

 

He was sooooo happy!

We got to ride to daycare and pick up Katheryn! On his new bike!

 

Katheryn's is ready for a new bike too (but I think it will have to wait until next year) she can still ride hers and have fun together on the driveway.

No matter how much we paid for this bike (which was reasonably close to the estimate I imagined), this picture makes it all worth it!
Riding his bike with the neighborhood kids.
Priceless!

Wanting to ride

Nickolas wants to ride a bike.
He wants to be a big boy and do big boy things.

Katheryn likes riding her bike to get the mail when I get home.
She is so excited to get on her bike, and Nickolas gets excited to.

But he doesn't have a bike. Not really.

When I said he didn't have a bike, he got so upset.
Screw up your face, tears streaming and pathetically asking why...
And that was just me!
But seriously, he just broke my heart.

We brought him one time in his chair, trying to encourage him to move himself around in his chair more effectively. He still wanted a bike.

We pulled out the toddler bike he has had for the last 2 years.
He doesn't really fit in it.
It has plastic wheels

It's difficult for me to steer
He isn't able to actually pedal to move, he is fighting to keep his feet on the pedals to begin with.
He actually did keep his feet on the pedals significantly longer than I had expected.
But we spent more time readjusting his feet than enjoying the 'bike ride'.
It comes with a seat belt that kept him from falling off. But we had to readjust Nick's hips a bunch of times because he lost his balance and was off-centred.

The toddler bike is not working for us.
But Nick is riding a bike.
I thought about taping his feet onto the pedals.

Or trying to make a holder for his foot with the tape.

It didn't work. It lasted about half way to the mailbox.

Nickolas is happy about it.
He is happy the be riding a bike like  a big boy.
He is happy to be outside and playing with the other kids.
He doesn't know he's in a  baby bike.
But I know.

I want him to be in something that is appropriate.

We were very excited when we went to the bike fair in March.
Then we were on a break from physiotherapy, we weren't quite sure what we could look at for funding, and what we could afford. We asked social work for help and they gave us a list, we asked physiotherapy for help and we got a list and a letter to submit. But I'm pretty sure the only organization we qualify for, we used for conductive education last year.
And we kept putting it off. It's not like it is thousands of dollars, we could probably scrounge around our accounts for the $600 for the bike. It's just that it is $600 for a bike. And it was still rainy and cold and not bike weather.
But now it is, and we don't have a bike.
I feel like a horrible mom that we made the effort and then fizzled and didn't follow through.

I haven't stopped looking for the things that would make riding a bike easier. in April the fatwheels company came back  into business. ($99 for the wheels, $30 for shipping to Canada - shaves $80 off the original price). But we have done lots of online shopping and looking, but haven't actually done anything about it.

It has to move to the top of my to-do list!

Testing out some bikes

Grandview Children's Centre had a bike fair today.

The kids were very excited to go and buy some new bikes. We had to explain to them that we were not actually buying a bike, just looking.

We weren't really sure what it was that we were looking for.

Nickolas has really enjoyed riding a bicycle in physiotherapy.

 

 

The bike that he has been riding in PT was the right size, with some of the right features that he needed, but also had features the were not needed.

Some things that we felt were important were:

• direct drive - this makes it easier to Nick to pedal by using momentum and not working so hard to start to pedal, he can also go forwards and backwards without the brake
• pedal plates - he needs help to keep his feet on the pedals to be able to use
• seat - he needs a bigger base, not necessarily full trunk support
• parent handle - gives us a bit of help and control, and so we don't have to bend
• training wheels (instead of the large tricycle model he was riding in)
  

 

So that was where we were when we walked into the bike fair.
We looked at some of the adaptive tricycles, brought by Durham Medical but everything looked like it had more support than Nickolas needed. And of course they are significantly more expensive. So we kept looking.

And Nick liked this bike.

They had Bay Cycle Sports to help with modifications and pricing and ideas. Everyone was extremely helpful and eager to help

Nick really liked that this was a big-boy bike. He loved turning the wheel and wanted to get going.

We didn't buy anything, that wasn't really the point. This wasn't to buy, it was to look and see what was actually out there and what can be done.

To make some modifications to a bike

• direct drive seemed to be an easy fix and the Bay Cycle guy could modify it himself (hopefully) about $20
• pedal plate, we need something at the front and back. We tried just the front support and his feet kept slipping out and making him upset. So we need something that will hold his foot at the front and the back. Moulded plastic with velcro about $100
• a seat upgrade. Something that is wider so he is more stable. We don't want anything with full back and side support, but more stable than a regular bike seat. $30-$50
• seat belt. Bay Cycle said that because of liability issues they do not actually add seat belts, but that we could add something ourselves.
• Training wheels. If we are looking at a 2 wheel bike and not the larger tricycle then we need to have wider training wheels. It was suggested we look at fatwheels, which run about $180 + S/H, except that it looks like this company just ran out of business and these wheels aren't available (either ebay, amazon, or a google search). Amazon has wide training wheels for $12.75 though...

A larger bike with the handles reversed would also give us some more room to grow.
This red bike is 14" wheels, we tried him on a green bike but didn't get any pictures. The actual bikes cost about $130. But they said we didn't have to purchase the bike from them and Bay Cycle would still make modifications.

The approximate total for what we are looking at is probably $300 at it's least expensive and up to maybe $600 at the most expensive.

Nickolas was very excited to see the bikes, but once that excitement finished he was much more excited to race Katheryn around the room.

And crashing into her as well. The number of times we had to tell the kids "don't crash into each other!"

Katheryn enjoyed showing off her bike riding skills, and of course making us aware that she has outgrown her bike that we got for her last year.

So we are hoping to have some bike riding kids this spring and summer.
We just need to investigate for some funding to try to see how we can afford a bike for Nick.

More Bike Riding

We had another PT session today.
All Nickolas wanted to do was get back on that yellow bicycle!

We are looking into some options to get a big boy bike for Nick - because he is a big boy now!
Grandview has a bike fair in March that we will go to, and hopefully get some information to make decisions about what we need. And we are looking at some other options right now to try to get funding or something reasonably priced.

Do we get a large trike like this? Do we get a 2 wheeler with extra large training wheels? And of course we need the 'parent stick' or guide, foot pedal holders, extra support for his seating.
Oh yeah, and Nickolas has already picked out the colour of his future bike - blue.

I want to ride a Bicycle

Last week when we were at PT with Katheryn, she spent alot of the time riding around on one of the bicycles. And Nick wanted to ride a bike too!

We got Nick a toddler bike almost 2 years ago. And we used it a lot more this past year.

But I think he will have outgrown it this year. Except it has a lot of the options we need. A higher back and seat belt for balance, a push bar for parents. I also wanted to figure out a way to keep his feet in the peddles. That was a lot of the difficulty for Nick this year. He might want to push the peddles, but he had to concentrate so much on keeping his feet on the peddles that pushing wasn't an option.

So this week in physio, they tried out a bike.

 

I was working - but Kyle took pictures. Nick was very excited to tell me how he got to ride the yellow bike at physio!

And of course the smile says it all!

 

 

Nickolas was able to peddle the bike with minimal help, and had so much fun!

I guess we'll be hitting the bike fair in March!

Chalk it up to a good day!

Cool dude with the sidewalk art!

And Katheryn's favorite design ever (a rainbow)

red, orange, yellow... green, followed by blue, then comes indigo and violet, a rainbow song for you!

Those knee pads sure come in handy with the hard driveway.
Nick loves crawling all over and leaving his mark!

 And because we were in the driveway, we might as well pull  out all of the bikes.
The kids are both still learning how to ride them

Katheryn has started to figure out how to move the pedals to move forward, just working on getting her to keep moving them forward

And Nick has been able to keep his feet on the pedals.
Now we are just working on getting him to move them

But in the meantime - they are still having fun!

Helmets on!

Katheryn has been asking to go on her bike for a couple of weeks now. We live on a bit of a slope so I wasn't sure about letter her out on the road. I have pictures in my head of her losing control and carshing into parked cars or something. I grew up on a court, all safe and flat. 

We brought her trike over to daycare and let her trike home.

We pulled out Nick's trike and helmet as well.

Nickolas has really grown since the last time he was on this trike (it is one of the ones you can put baby's in - it has lots of levels. I need to find some kind of velcro or something so his feet can stay on the pedals. But Nick was soooo happy to be one a bike just like Katheryn!

We discovered that his helmet is too small!
And I don't want to force it with his shunt - even just putting it on makes me nervous (Nick's shunt is just above his temple - right where the helmet goes)

Katheryn has also outgrown her helmet - and her trike.
Kyle and I had no clue when you are supposed to upgrade to a bike. Apparently it's 4 years.

So I guess that is on our shopping list!

Nick's new wheels!

Nick got himself some shiny new (plastic) wheels for Easter!
It's some kind of smart trike? It's good for kids 8 months and up. It comes with a complete 5 point harness and a bar around them. As well as a parent handle, sun shade and a bar to rest their feet. It is a 3 stage system.
Nick is obviously not ready for an actual trike, but Katheryn has her trike and I really wanted something for him to be in too.
One day I was at store and saw these things!
PERFECT!

So now he's up like a big boy, in his big-boy bike! (And mommy doesnt' have to worry about him losing balance and falling off).


Katheryn was helping him with his feet (they aren't long enough to reach the peddles yet - and I don't think he'd know what to do if they were - but there is a bar to rest his feet on).

And the parent handle maybe should be a 'Katheryn handle'. She loves pushing him around in it too!
"Nick wants his bike"

Of course Nick is already getting into some dangerous driving behavior! I think his sister is a bad influence!

Drinking and driving !

Street (Hall) racing!