Learning to ride a Bicycle

Days like today, when it's been raining for hours nonstop, Hidai is travelling, and the universe keeps sending me negative emails, these days are the best time to find a positive thought and hold on to it. Well, actually these are the days to get into bed with a (very) big box of chocolate (or cookies. Or cake) and turn on the TV. But seeing how Hidai is travelling and someone will have to go out in the rain and get the kids home, thinking positive thoughts will have to do for now.
Since I'm fresh out of positivity right now, I've decided to write about the big project we had this summer - We decided to teach Yon how to ride a bicycle.
Riding a bike is such a small thing, it shouldn't warrant a post I guess, but with Yon it is so much more - it is (warning! Schmaltzy comment ahead) one small proof that he could do whatever he sets his mind to. Yes, it is a small leap from riding a bike to ruling the world!

Up until now Yon has never shown any interest in being anywhere but standing firmly on ground (or at least if he is on a scooter, having someone else pull him along), and with his Ocular Albinism and Aspergers we accepted the fact that he will not be able to learn how to ride a bicycle (or a scooter, or a skateboard, etc), but his Reception teacher told us at the end of last year that he really likes the tricycles at school. It took him all year (apparently. We knew nothing about it) to master it, but he did, and he rode around the schoolyard freely.
Our first reaction, naturally, was doubt (okay, we didn't believe a word she was saying), so we politely asked her if we could get a demonstration of Yon on the tricycle, and since she is a very nice person (who also knows that we will just keep asking) she let Yon show us how wrong we were.
It was amazing, seeing him race around the playground, not hitting anything, making all the turn, stopping on the correct spot. But more than that it was amazing seeing his enjoyment.
The next week we bought him his first real bicycle - red ones with flames painted on them - and decided to teach him how to ride.

Hidai assembling the bicycle

How do you teach a child with about 40% vision to ride a bicycle? Well, you make sure there are not a lot of people around... To be honest we did it the way we taught Ron how to ride - we bought him slightly small bicycle so he will feel more secure (and so he won't have too much speed) and started him off with training-wheels and about 30 minutes of "bicycle-time" every day for 10 weeks in our communal area (that is big, flat, and doesn't have lots of people walking around).

It took him a few days to catch the whole mechanic of the thing - starting, paddling, turning and stopping - but after that he was free as a bird, riding around without a care in the world.
Yon has no sense of fear, or that he has to look where he is going, so he rides like he walks - talking nonstop and without looking anywhere near where he is going, which for the rest of the world could be a little heart-attack inducing, but for him is perfectly natural.
We did try to let him ride on the street a couple of time, but Hidai had to run next to him the whole time and ward off unsuspecting soon to be bicycle accident casualties. So we got back to communal-area riding.

After about three weeks we decided it was time to take his training wheels off, and though it may seem like it was an easy and logical decision, we were petrified, and worried, and not at all sure Yon will be able to learn how to ride a bicycle without the training wheels. Balance is not his strong suit.
I won't lie, it wasn't easy. Poor Hidai had to run with him, providing balance, for about two weeks, until Yon finally got it. I suspect some of it was due to the fact that we find it so hard to let go, and that Yon enjoyed having Hidai run after him.

Teaching Yon how to ride a bike gave us a rare insight to his vision. With Yon you'd never guess that his vision is as bad as it is. He never falls or bumps or asks about things he doesn't see well. He has managed to teach himself so many techniques of dealing with the world, that you really believe he sees everything, even when you know he doesn't. The only time we see how much he doesn't see is when we take him to the hospital. He can't fake his way through an eye-test.

Then and when he rides his bike. When we took away his training wheels, turning and going through the big metal gates we have around the building became impossible for him. He just couldn't see or even estimate how wide his turn should be or the width of the gate opening. We practiced for weeks, going through the gates in and out, turning again and again, so he should learn how to "feel" the turn.

But he did get it, and as silly as it sounds, it was one of my proudest moments as a parent seeing him ride his little red bike all on his own.