Ice Skating

In December, Gavin told me that he wanted to go ice skating. (I think he got the idea from watching the Charlie brown Christmas special, where the kids ice skate on their pond. They make it look so easy!) Then right after that, I received the Naperville Park District class schedule and saw that they offer parent-tot ice skating at local ice rinks.

I told him we would do it together in January and he was very excited. He told me he would hold my hand in case I fell down! Our class is at All Seasons Ice Rink, which is pretty close to our house. He stayed excited right up until the minute he had to actually stand up in his skates...then he clung to me for dear life. And we weren't even on the ice yet! We were just on the rubber mats.

We slowly made our way to the actual ice, but before we got there, the instructor wanted us to practice the proper way to get up when we fall down. To do this, Gavin had to let go of me, and he was not pleased. Again, we weren't even on the ice yet.

Finally, after about twenty minutes, we made it to the ice. It turns out that ice is a lot more slippery than it looks! Gavin cling to me like Velcro again, and we only had five minutes left of class time.

The next week, Gavin was a lot more confident. He let go of me and skated about ten feet by himself several times. It also helped that the staff gave us an instructor to have all to ourselves for the entire class! We were on the ice almost the whole time. Gavin still didn't want to learn how to get up, but I figure we have to take baby steps.

Yesterday was the third class, and that's when I took the picture above. He told me he didn't want to go anymore, but I said we have to finish the session (it's only seven weeks). We played the "We're Going on a Bear Hunt" game, which he enjoyed. We tossed little stuffed animals and then skated toward them, which he also liked. He held my hand most of the time, and then bragged afterward that he didn't fall down like the other kids. I had to point out that the other kids weren't holding their parents' hands!

It's been interesting, that's for sure. We'll see what he can do in the next four weeks!