Hi, I'm Jake, I post in C&V forum when I'm in my manic bikeforum phases, not at all in the off years. There are other things in life. Like kids!
My 4.5-year-old has really enjoyed riding his balance bike to school (back when we went to school), and has been missing his bike rides, as well as getting too tall for the little wooden radio flyer pushbike. I picked up a HEAVY but decent bmx-style bike with hand brake, did quite a bit of adjusting, took the pedals off, and he didn't like how it steered and went back to the little wooden one. A few weeks later he'd gotten used to it and would ride it on our 2.5-mile every-other-day walk around the neighborhood. Yesterday we convinced him to try pedaling, and he had a breakthrough! Discovered that he can pedal and go SO MUCH FASTER! Today, he mastered the coaster brake as well, and can stop pretty well with both the coaster and the hand brake. We spent about two hours outside riding up and down the alley. Little brother is on a push tricycle, and keeps asking to go "ride bike around block". They still both pile into the trailer (Thule Cadence) for our longer / 10-15 mile trips. It's getting a bit cramped!
Hmm... looking at this picture I see an adjustment on the Kettler I'd not noticed before! I can bring pedals closer to his feet.