Yesterday, right as we were heading out the door to take T to school, he announced that he had mail. When he says that, he means that his teacher sent something home with him that I need to see. Now you may be wondering, well why didn't you ask him when he got home from school if he had mail? Ahh, I did, but he said no, and I left it at that. He's generally pretty good about remembering such things, so it wasn't a big deal, just unusual that he had forgotten.
In the mail, there was a notice that there was a family skate night at a local rink. T has been asking to learn to skate since he saw some animated character or another learn how on Nick Jr, so I thought that maybe we should try it. I email the suggestion to R, he agrees that it sounds like fun, and that's how we ended up at family skate night.
The kids were SO excited. We all rented skates, put them on and headed to the beginners rink. I'd forgotten how much easier it is to manage skates on carpet versus hard floors. The first few minutes were a smidge unsteady for R and I what with the kids hanging on to us while their legs flew out in what seemed like a gazillion directions all at once. But since I spent a lot of time in a skating rink when I was younger, it slowly came back to me and I have to say that I'd forgotten how much fun skating can be. Well, it's fun if you aren't trying to keep a wiggly super energized munchkin on feet that now roll in virtually every possible direction all at once while at the same time keeping yourself from falling and potentially smushing your child to death in front of innocent bystanders/witnesses. Good times!
There were lots of other kids and parents that were wobbly too, so we were in good company. Poor T got so mad and frustrated that he couldn't figure out how to skate right away that he spent a good amount of time in tears. And yelling. Always with the yelling. I'll never understand why neither of my kids can be upset quietly. But then the heavens opened and we saw it: the skater's helper. This was made out of white pvc pipe and was a perfect right angle with wheels attached at the bottom. It allows a novice skater to learn how to skate by holding on to what basically amounts to portable rails. Awesome! I thought that the rink was charging for them, so I told T that we couldn't get one this visit, and man, he did not like hearing that. But then R, because he is wise and his ears probably hurt from all the T ruckus, simply went and asked. It turns out it was either free last night or he just told me it was. Either way works for me because I was out of money.
Once T has this helper, he was willing to calm down and listen to instruction. The poor kid took some hard falls last night, and I don't blame him one bit for wanting a little plastic help. We practiced standing with the skates, then standing without holding onto anything, then rolling one foot, then rolling alternating feet until before we knew it, the T was skating. YES! He wanted so very, very badly to go in the 'big kids' rink, and I told him if he made it around the beginners rink, that I'd take him around the big kids rink. I made the first couple rounds with him and then let him try. He fell a good amount, but he'd been holding on to a solid wall for the first half hour and it took him a bit to realize how to get support from the skater's helper. He did make it, though, so off we went to the main rink. S, who is probably smarter than R, T and I combined, was done skating after about 15 minutes and was sensibly sitting with her dad eating popcorn. Smart little pumpkin!
Once in the main rink, I tried to skate while holding the helper down so T wouldn't flip it and pushing myself, T and the helper forward. That first lap took a long time, but it was worth it to see the look on T's face. Of course, since things were going so smoothly, he wanted to try it by himself. Not one to burst his bubble that he had more help than he thought, I agreed to let him do from the last curve to the rink entrance solo. He fell a few times, but was careful to watch out for other beginning skaters and stay close to the wall. When we got to the entrance, I made him leave the rink because it was time to go home and get ready for bed. He begged us (with an a la carte of tantrum thrown in) to let him skate just a little bit more. When he listened to us and calmed down when we asked, we agreed to let him skate a few more minutes in the beginners rink. And I'll be doggoned if he wasn't doing beautifully within minutes. He didn't want to leave, but did anyway and I have a feeling that we'll be back soon. I wonder if we could make one of those helpers. I guess next time we go skating I should take my camera, huh? Some of those pictures would be absolutely priceless especially if I could have gotten them without damaging myself or the camera. Next time... next time....
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