Our first snowfall of 2016 wasn’t too much. About two inches, but there was some freezing underneath. We woke up Sunday morning to news of churches cancelling services (including ours) and plenty of accidents all around the tri-state area.
Normally, we would have just enjoyed a morning of hibernation. But we had planned Susannah’s birthday party for that afternoon at the ice rink, so we were concerned that it would be closed due to the road conditions. Or – even if the rink was open – that her friends’ families would stay away for concern over the roads.
Luckily for sweet Susannah, The Edge was open for business… and almost all of her classmates were able to come and celebrate our girl! It was a nice party, and it was interesting to watch my kids’ personalities play out on the ice.
Susannah was determined to spend every last second on the ice, and she wasn’t worried about ditching the milk-crate support. Being out there, gliding around, was more important to her than whether she needed ‘training wheels’ or not. Her pals from school tended to interact and skate together, “race” across the center of the ice, and zoom around to help each other up when they tumbled –but Susannah sort of floated in and out of those interactions and was just as happy skating solo. And that’s always been her way. She charts her own course, and while she’s very sociable and loves the people who cross her path, it truly doesn’t bother her if she’s on a different map and headed for a different destination.
Abigail went out fearlessly with her crate and didn’t want me to help much. After the first half hour, she even started skating without the box support! She has incredible balance and moves with more confidence and grace than I had at four. 🙂 Abi didn’t want the bigger kids or the rink workers to help her when she fell down. It was either me, or on her own; she didn’t really want strangers in her space. And that’s Abi’s way. She has physical grace and she really trusts her body, but she doesn’t much trust other people beyond a very tightly defined circle of family and besties. When she’s hurt or upset, it’s still an Only Mom Will Do deal.
Jonas was a little bit nervous when he first stepped out, but as soon as he got his ice legs under him, he had a blast. He really hit it off with Susannah’s friend J, and spent most of the time with him – they would race, challenge each other to try new things, help each other up when they both decided to abandon crates. He giggled and grinned and lit up the rink with his happiness. And that’s my big guy; he approaches new things with caution, but when he warms up –and especially, when he warms up to a buddy– he can tackle anything, and he does it with joy.
And as it turns out, when we got home from the skating party, we got our chance to hibernate. The schools decided to make Monday a snow day!