I started mine on one of those noisy ass plastic three wheeled vroom vroom things When she was a year old i got her a Muna balance bike, removed the brake (Not sure how toddlers are supposed to grab at it anyway) and my entire family looked at me like i had just emerged from a piece of cheese. She ripped around on that thing for quite some time, i changed tyres, put on some ESI grips when her old ones wore out. Eventually her seat post got to its limit. Shopped around for a few months and decided that id get her a pretty pink Barbie/Frozen bmx type deal. i stripped it down, greased everything put it all back together and adjusted the brakes as best i could. On her birthday morning she got on and proceeded to burn up and down the driveway all day. We ride around the block every week and often even to the shops/coffee shop for milkshake. She is super proud of it and i take the time to teach her about bike care etc. Now it never sleeps outside, it gets a wash and lube every now and then. Long story short, the balance bike was the basis of her riding, it taught her the fundamentals and allowed her to transition straight to a pedal bike without having to deal with the fear of blikseming over. Good luck
