lambscapearchitect: future dorothy hamill

I have not been ice skating since 8th grade. Growing up we lived near an outdoor rink at a local park that was right across from our school. I had some great times at good ol' Ottawa Park even though I was never that great of a skater.

Recently, I was able to relive my youth when I took Eloise ice skating at our local rink. She has been asking to go ice skating for some time now. Seeing as how I am no longer pregnant, breastfeeding, or taking care of a newborn, I was out of excuses. We headed to the open skate last weekend and had a ball.

As with nearly every activity we do, Eloise has to have what, in her mind, is the perfect outfit. This outing was no different. When we decided that we were going, she went up to change--purple tights, gray Puma tube socks, striped sweatshirt, winter hat, and blue sparkly ice skating skirt that I had made for her 2 years ago to play dress up.

We were able to rent ice skates and I got to work lacing hers up and really trying to pull them tight. She was so excited she could hardly sit still. She was going on about how she was going to do some "twirly arabesques" and some "spins" as soon as she could get onto the ice. I was trying to let her know that it might be difficult to even walk but she wasn't hearing it.

She got up on her skates and we walked together, clutching hands, and trying to make our legs work. It is not natural that someone of my size and nature should be able to balance on two thin blades of steel...on ice. I think we were both surprised by how hard it was but I was so proud of Eloise for giving it her all and never wanting to give up.

We mainly skated, and I use that term loosely, around the edge of the regulation size hockey rink a few times while hanging on to each other and the wall. Eloise fell 279 times but she hopped back up every time. It was so loud in there but I knew she was shouting things the whole time. From what I could tell, she mainly alternated between "This is so awesome!!!!" and "I am so angry they gave me brown skates!!!"

As luck would have it, a new session of ice skating lessons was set to start the following week. We were able to sign up and after her first lesson yesterday morning she is already able to let go of the railing to cross the rink on her own and skating backwards.

This week, I plan to purchase a BeDazzler and book tickets for the 2022 Olympics.