something's missing

Look very closely at the pictures above. Do you notice something missing? . . . Have you guessed yet? . . . It is . . .

Training Wheels!

The day I have dreaded has arrived. Dallin has been begging to try riding his bike without training wheels for a couple of weeks but I have been trying to get him to hold off (I have gone on many a bike ride with him and see how he falls down over nothing all the time, with training wheels on). On Thursday, while I was at work, Dallin finally convinced Joe that they should try bike riding sans training wheels. Dallin has taken to it like a champ. He oftens wants help getting started, but once he gets going, he can keep going.

Unfortunately, you can't learn how to ride a bike without falling down a couple of times. This is the bump Dallin got falling off his bike (and yes, he was wearing a helmet and this still happened).
Although the ouchy hurt him very much and we are still giving him tylenol/ibprofen occasionally for the pain, he likes to point out that he did a jump as he crashed.

this is the ouchy on the second day. The swelling has gone down some (though even the bridge of his nose looks swollen to me) but the color is coming in much darker (kind like with a black eye).

He is not letting the head bonk keep him down though. That same day, he insisted on riding again. Porter was riding around and Dallin wanted to join him. We were at Ashley's house and Dallin's bike was in the back yard. I told Dallin "no" because I was still worried he might have a concussion or something. He just stomped off to the back yard and came out a few minutes later, helmet buckled, sitting on his bike. He sort of glared at me and made a sad face at the same time. Finally, I relented and let him ride as long as Uncle Brett could run along side.