Another Milestone

This just in from the "wait until they ask to try it" department - Casey is riding a two wheel bike!  About 2 years ago, we took the training wheels off Casey's bike and made him try to ride to ride it.  Jeff and I took turns running perilously next to him until we would let go and watch him careen into the grass and wipe out within the next 2 seconds.  I think we did this for one evening.  Then we decided the people most likely to get injured in this experiment were the two runners and we put the training wheels back on.  Last spring/summer, he never asked to try and we never offered.  We talked about it once, amongst ourselves, wondering if we were failing parenthood because our 6 year old wasn't riding a bike like most of the other 6 year olds were.
This spring our neighbors put two scooters out in their trash.  Casey and Jeff noticed them and the neighbors were happy to have them come into our garage.  The first night was rough.  Casey fell every time he tried.  The skin on his knees and elbows took a beating but his enthusiasm remained.  After about 2 days, he was flying down the street on this thing and loving every minute of it.
When we visited Wisconsin this summer, my dad bought him a brand new shiny blue scooter and a new helmet and he spent our days there tearing up and down their street.   He was really looking confident and learning to balance.
In the last week of summer we had some friends of the boys over for a sleepover.  They had just started riding their bikes so they brought them along.  At one point, Jeff asked Casey if he wanted to try his friends bike - "Just see what happens".  So Casey hopped on the two wheeler and off he went - no problem!  The last week of summer he asked every day to ride his bike (training wheels now removed) and has been flying up and down the street.  He rotates the scooter in too, and has come a long way on both.
I continue to be really glad we waited - the attempt 2 years ago was not fun for any of us.  He wasn't interested and he wasn't ready.  It's hard to wait on some things, especially when all the kids around you are doing that thing already.  But man it is easier when they are ready!  So I am a believer in "Wait until they ask" because kids don't always respond well to being pushed into learning a new thing, and that makes everyone unhappy.  Between the ages of 5 and 7, whenever people asked me if Casey was riding a bike, I would hem and haw and say he was not and when we had tried he couldn't do it.  But now if someone asks me if Sam is riding a 2 wheeler yet, I'll just say "No, he hasn't asked to try that yet."