Last year we persuaded Lily to ditch her stabilisers. Within days this was the pathway to a whole new world of faster bike riding and saddle sores.

Joel seems reluctant to follow suit. No: he adamantly refuses to follow suit. He’s younger than Lily was but only by a year and, as with the toilet training, I arguably left it a bit late with Lily.

I think we can use the experience of the slight incline by the playground…

…to persuade him that being able to go faster more often is a Good Thing. Plus at the playground there’s a bike and skate park. At the moment I feel like L & J move too slowly and are too much of a target for the older kids to crash into. Bizarrely I think they’d be a bit safer if they were a bit faster when other kids are there.

He did, however, find cycling up the …slight incline… quite hard work.

Yet another DITCH-THE-STABILISERS argument! And yes, he’s nearly ready for a new helmet. It seems his head has grown.