Asher’s first ride

Pretty soon after we arrived, a couple of people in the church asked if they could present any needs we had to the church at large to help us set up house here in Germany. Although they were not on our list, some of the first things that people offered were bikes for our kids!  We didn’t have room to ship their bikes from America and a few nights before we left we passed ours on to some good friends at home so it was such a nice surprise to get bikes so soon after we arrived.

Two of the bikes came from our good friends in Friedberg, the first town that we lived in. The bike that they gave us for Asher is called a “laufrad.” It’s a really neat concept and I think I’ve seen some in the US as well. Basically a child uses their legs, not pedals to move the bike. After a while on this bike, they should be able to transition to a normal bike without the need for training wheels because they will have already learned to balance and steer.

Asher has been practicing on his bike around the garden a little but he’s been more walking on his legs than using his legs to move the bike. Over the past several weeks the concept seems to have clicked for him. He figured out that he can go faster if he rests all of his weight on the bike and moves it forward with his legs. So, last week, I decided to let him try it out on the sidewalks while Jude and I walked behind.

Um….basically he took off! Jude and I were laughing out loud at how fast he was going on his bike and there were times when I had to bust into a full sprint yelling “Asher stop, stop” to catch him (that was quite a site).  He is quite a little ham and loved putting on a show for us and making us laugh.

Here are a few pictures from his first ride.