Have Bike. Will Crash.

Teddy has been interested in bikes for a long time, including climbing on AJ's big boy bike with training wheels. He can pedal our tricycles for short spurts, but his feet fall off the pedals. We've had a pattern to adapt the foot pedals to better support his feet, but we never got around to actually making them. (My somewhat valid excuse is that we spend so much of our time Teddy proofing and supervising and repairing damage from Teddy that other projects get pushed to the backburner.)

So when I saw a room full of adapted bikes at Teddy's last appointment to get fitted for new braces, I inquired into how those are typically funded. I was surprised to learn that it is something that could be funded by Children's Long-Term Support Waiver (CLTSW). That's the county program that supports Teddy's additional needs above and beyond a typical child (with a parental cost share, of course). I e-mailed Teddy's case worker and received approval within 24  hours for the assessment for an adapted bicycle, which astounded me that it was that easy! (Apparently, it's not always that easy. The guy who did the adapted bike said that it's extremely rare for the process to move this quickly. When I spoke to Teddy's case worker yesterday, she said that she knew Teddy would benefit because Teddy and our family are so active.)

That means the highlight of today was picking up Teddy's new bike! This custom bicycle is designed for Teddy, so it fits him perfectly, yet will grow with him both as he develops more abilities and grows older.

He climbed right on and waited patiently for the adjustments.

It has a couple straps to help secure him in place to his backrest, which provides support for his core, so he doesn't have to work as hard to stay upright. The handlebar adjusts in height and gives him a wide, steady base for steering. Until he masters that concept (because he's a wild man now!), there's a guide bar in the front for someone to help Teddy when he needs assistance steering or is stuck and needs a boost. There's also a handle in the back for pushing, but the guide bar will be the main form of support until it's no longer needed. Then it can be removed.

Nice wide handle for steering, not that he intends to actually steer any time soon.

The pedals have a series of 3 straps to secure his feet in place, so he doesn't have to keep adjusting them to stay on the pedals. Perhaps the neatest part is that whenever the bike moves, the pedals move. That helps ingrain the reciprocal motion of medal into his muscle memory. Wait, there's a brake, so I can keep him still when I get him strapped in. That might be the coolest part.

Pure (blurry) joy at having his own bike!

That's the technical side of why an adapted bike is so great for him, but all you really need to see is this: