Skating Round 2

The boys had a pupil-free day today. I coordinated with a couple other moms from school to take the boys skating in the afternoon, hoping that it would be less busy because we were the only school off for the day.

As soon as we arrived, Nathan got his skates on and took off with his friend. He improved from the first time we went, and was able to make it across the ice faster and took longer, but still choppy, strides. I think he's really starting to feel confident on those skates!

Seeing that both the other moms were on the ice with their boys, and that we were the only people in the entire arena, I figured it'd be okay to go on as well. I really didn't want to sit for two hours, and acting against my instincts, I had left my down vest at home so I was already cold.

I briefly contemplated letting Caleb sit on the side while we skated, but I knew that would be unfair to him. Then he said to me, "I go skate, too." And that just sealed the deal for me.

Right away, I went to ask what the smallest size skate was. We tried them on Caleb and they fit. He had a lot of trouble standing up and walking initially and a tiny voice in the back of my mind whispered that maybe this wasn't such a good idea after all. But we were too invested now. Caleb would not be happy if I took those skates off him now. So I stuck to my guns and marched on.

I got my own skates on and we were ready to go.

Caleb was given this frame to hold on to ask he skated. It helped to hold some of his weight but ever so often, his legs would slip forward and he would be hanging helplessly onto the frame until I pulled him back up again.

For the first half an hour or so, we skated around like this. It was tiring but I was glad to see he hadn't given up. After a while, I let him sit on the side with his little buddy to have a snack while I skated a few rounds.

As I was making my way around the opposite side of the rink, I saw Caleb standing at the door. I didn't think he would step onto the ice, but he did. Slowly but surely, he stepped one foot, then the other onto the ice and he didn't slip!

After that point, he decided he didn't need the frame anymore. He got daring and tried just holding my hands, then letting go and taking a few steps on his own. We alternated between the three for the remaining time.

Caleb was over the moon that he got to go skating and I'm so impressed with how well he did, his very first time on the ice. He must have worked really hard because he fell asleep as soon as we got in the car and napped until dinner time. A very well-deserved rest.