skating and the best Christmas ever

I took Banana skating today. It was the first chance to try out the new skates she'd gotten for Christmas.

We got to the rink, and I paid the $14.50 for our entry and my skate rental. We trotted into the bleachers and got our skates on. When hers were laced up, she proudly stood up and showed them to two little girls who told their mom they wanted pretty white skates. For the rest of the time, she pointed out every other little girl who wore a similar pair.

She was pretty tentative when we got out on the ice. Her nervousness probably wasn't helped by my own trepidation, but we started moving pretty well. After a few laps near the wall, she switched to holding just one of my hands and we moved into the center a little bit. A skating coach pointed out that we probably needed to sharpen the blades to stop her sideways slipping--a detail I hadn't considered when buy brand new ice skates, and a lesson I've now learned. She tried a couple times to show me how she could spin. Those were the times she fell (Rule #1, I told her, was that she would definitely fall, and get up.), and I suggested she wait until she could skate on her own before she try spinning or jumping.

My little girl is determined to jump ahead of what she can really do. It's a habit I think she inherited from me, but I hope she learns how to do all of her work and practice in order to learn how to do these things. That discipline part is the piece I've missed sometimes.

Anyway, after an hour and a half of skating, we were both ready to quit. Banana stopped, grinned, and said, "I like ice skating. This was the best Christmas ever." Very sweet.

For my part, I only remember skating once as a child--and hating it. Falling was no fun. I've skated a few times in the last ten years, and I don't mind it so much now. I might even take the time to learn how to do it better.