Wait…what’s wrong with winter tights with a short skirt/dress? Do you have any idea how warm winter tights are? And it’s easier to run around and climb in tights or leggings rather than jeans.
Hint: when the weather dips below 0ºF, put the pants OVER the winter tights. That goes for boys too (it’s how they do it in Germany, for example).
That had been the idea, but she just wanted the tights without pants. I’m fine with her running around in tights once she’s indoors, but it’s a little cold for cycling to school (That’s another thing they do in Germany - you get kids who are barely two riding balance bikes to kindergarten):
I’ll have you over to our place some morning as we calmly discuss that it’s cold out and pants or tights should be worn instead of summertime shorts. All three of us could use the break from the discussion to see if a new person can change any minds.
Fleece leggings. Tight enough to go under the dress, pants-y enough to be pants. At least until she hits adolescence and the leggings become tissue-thin, anyway.
Don’t I know it?! While visiting friends in Berlin when my youngest was a toddler, we were introduced to the (wooden) balance bike. It’s how she was able to keep up with all the big kids and adults when we went around large sites such as Potsdam. Our friends gave us that bike (their only child had long outgrown it) and we brought it back to the U.S. in an old suitcase of theirs, which they retrieved the next time they came to visit us. We were the talk of the neighborhood, since at the time balance bikes were unheard of. Never had to teach her how to ride a “real” bike, thanks to the balance bike. Those things are amazing!
When my son was a little older, we got him a normal bike with training wheels and used both together for a bit. I wanted to surprise my wife, so I planned to spend a week secretly teaching him how to ride without training wheels before showing off what he could do. It took less than five minutes for him to learn.
I found it has everything to do with their motivation. Ours was highly interested in getting them off, so I staked out the afternoon, got out the tools, went to the park, removed the wheels and… well, there she went. I was pretty shocked given my memories of the same situation from when I was a kid.
We have a balance bike ready to go for Jr’s birthday. Really looking forward to it now.
Our kids loved their balance bikes. They actually convinced me to try riding one down a fairly steep but mercifully grassy hill. The bike & I both survived, but I don’t recommend it - it looks like a hoot when the kids are doing it, but you get the extra mass and high center of gravity of an adult on one of those things and it gets pretty dicey
Our son learned to ride the traditional training wheels alternating with Dad-running-behind-to-catch method in the UK (where balance bikes are (were?) unusual). It took ages. 
His little sister got a balance bike (training wheels are unusual here in NZ) and she rode away on the second attempt once I put the pedals on it. 
Yeah we tried with the pedals off, a class and everything. He would just get scared at the speed and want to stop even though I kept telling him that speed is your friend on 2 wheels.
Pretty sure my body is about 90% cheese at this point.
What does ratBoy’s shirt say? Keep calm and…
ADORBZ-IBLE!!!
[quote=“awjt, post:134, topic:69901, full:true”]
What does ratBoy’s shirt say? Keep calm and…[/quote]
“Call Grandma.” Personally I think it’s bad idea-- Grandma is a fruitcake-- but the kid can’t go naked all the time! 
You know, there was a Hyperbole and a Half where she talks about when her dad taught her how to ride a bike and how that traumatized her, but I can’t find it now… 
http://hyperboleandahalf5.blogspot.com/2010/07/bicycle.html
(images don’t seem to be loading, though? And it seems to be someone else’s site?)
Thanks! That’s the one. I went to her blog and couldn’t find it… Maybe she took off some stuff?
Duplicated.
I felt like that this morning. I was going to have “a small snack” while unwinding. It started as a few pieces of cheese, but feature-creep soon turned it into a plate of nachos. An hour before I thought I was going to go to bed. Bedtime had to wait.
