Tonight was Kate’s very first elementary school skating party. It was held at the skating rink in our town, where I spent many a Friday night in middle school, and on our way there, I was a little excited. Ok, a lot excited. I am such a dork.
When we walked in, I seriously thought I stepped into 1991 – the skating rink was exactly like it had been when I was a kid, right down to the hand-written signs that say “Positively no smoking!” (Come to think of it, it was probably exactly like it had been when my parents were kids as well.) It brought back so many memories, from my mom and her best friend teaching us kids how to skate (Jenny, I seem to remember a failed attempt to teach you to skate as well…), to waiting anxiously to be picked during the “snowball” skates.
It was awesome.
However, Kate had never been on rollerskates before, and since I hadn’t been on them in approximately 18 years (like riding a bike, I tell ya), things were a little shaky at first. As in, Kate couldn’t stand up, and it was so hard to hold her up while I was on skates. (Yes, I know I shouldn’t have put skates on. But I wanted in on the fun too! It only took me an hour to put my shoes back on.) We wobbled our way out onto the rink, and she “skated” along the side, holding onto the railing.
(Someday I am going to get a big kid camera and stop taking pictures on my cell phone, I promise.)
We eventually made our way out into the middle of the rink, where the beginners are supposed to be. Unfortunately, that happened to be precisely the time that the Hokey Pokey started. We were so not ready to put our left foot in and our left foot out. I was pretty sure I was going to give her that nursemaids’ shoulder that babies get when their moms pull their arms out of the socket. Not too long into our adventure, I tweeted “Why didn’t I think to google ‘how to teach a kid to skate’ this afternoon!” Seriously I should have thought of that. Duh!
Before too long, Kate started to get the hang of it. She was falling about every 20 seconds, but that was better than she had been doing!
She fell really hard several times, and I was afraid she was really hurt. The very last time she fell, she landed on her bottom hard, and then I thought to myself (I am totally not kidding) “Why didn’t I think to google ‘what to do when a kid breaks her tailbone’?” I didn’t know if I should pick her up or call 911 or get a stretcher or what. Fortunately, she got tired of waiting on me to figure out what to do, and got up herself.
But let me just say one thing – this roller skating stuff is barbaric. Quite frankly I’m surprised it’s still legal. In the days of professional baby-proofers and kids in booster seats until they get their drivers’ licenses, I cannot believe the blatant disregard for safety while roller skating! There wasn’t a knee pad or an elbow pad or a helmet to be found. At next month’s skating party, I very well might be “That Mom.” And I’ll probably make Kate wear pads and a helmet too. Ha!
In any case, despite the fact that we’ll both be sore and have lots of bruises tomorrow, we had a really great time, and it was so much fun to get to spend a couple hours with Kate on a new adventure.
She is so much fun.
