Skating Party

For his birthday activity, David chose ice skating. For family night on Monday, we headed down to the local ice rink to give David his first taste of ice skating. We had to wait for hockey practice to finish on the ice, so it was a late session that didn't start until 8 pm. The mall closes at 9 pm, so we tried to make the most of that hour, but a lot of the time was eaten up by choosing a broken locker, and changing out skates for a better fit. Between the three of us, we probably only had a combined total of 30 minutes on the ice.

There was a little of this--falling down and trying to get up again.

 And a little of this, clinging to the wall to try to stay up.

 At the end, David chatted it up with the Zamboni driver off the ice. Of course he wanted to hear all the whys and what fors about the Zamboni. It turned out to be the highlight of his night.

David kept asking to be picked up by one of his parents. He seemed sure that if he was picked up, he could zoom quickly and not fall down. We knew better--so we told David that he had to figure out how to keep his feet underneath him on the ice and we helped him as much as we could be holding his hand. By the end of the night, I really noticed his improvement. Which tells me that another session would be even more successful. I asked David if he wanted to do it again sometime. "No, I think it's a little too slippery for me. I'll wait until I'm bigger then I can go fast like the big kids."

We were buddies on the ice. I had just enough balance to hold his hands while we skated together. As long as he focused on keeping his feet underneath him, we both stayed up. I really enjoy ice skating, and I can keep my balance and get a little wind in my hair while I do it. But skating with the unpredictability of a little boy in front of me is a whole different ball game. His skates were everywhere I needed to put my feet, and his hands pulled my balance off. Thankfully, I didn't bite the ice--but I was nervous about it!

 

Happy Birthday, David!