Bicycle Advice

Keely has been asking for a bicycle for at least 2 months now if not longer. I first told a friend that I felt bad since we were moving to Hong Kong and living in an apartment and a bicycle wasn't an option. She told me that they lived in an apartment when her son turned 3 and they bought him one and he rode it around their apartment. Since we got here, we also discovered that our apartment seems to be on a pretty quiet road and we have a park nearby (even though normally bikes aren't allowed our friend thinks for a 3-year-old it would be ok). We have decided that for her birthday (if she is still asking for one), she will get a bicycle. We'll decide then if it will be an indoor or an outdoor activity.

A few weeks ago, I told her we would go to the toy store to look at bikes. She decided that she wanted an orange bike. When we got there there was an orange one. It was actually blue with an orange basket and an orange pooh on it. I wasn't too excited about it, but again if she kept asking for an orange one I would probably be convinced. However, last week when we went to the toy store again for her to sit on one she told me she wanted pink and purple. I'm a little happier with that choice because the pooh one seemed awfully babyish but if she changes her mind again she can probably convince me.

Obviously, I have never been bike shopping for an almost 3 year old. The smaller bikes are 12" and say they are for 3-5 year-olds and then the 14" once are for 4-6 year-olds. When our friend mentioned that her 4 1/2 year old was too tall for the 14" and would need a 16", I realized I needed Keely to sit on it. It looked to me that they already had the seat in the higher position and it looked like her feet hit it just right. The seat was up on the 14" one too and it was hard to tell how her legs were on that one. (I have to admit I didn't go to the trouble to have someone help us and so we were trying them out on the platform chained together...so I started getting nervous as she was getting on the second one that we were about to fall and hurt ourselves and ruin the display!) I know we should go try them out again, but what would be your advice on the size of bike we should get? What should I be looking for sizewise when she tries it out again? I would really like for her to be able to use it awhile so would it probably be better to get the 14" one so she could grow with it a bit? Any advice would be great!!