Ice Skating

We had a special date night with Jakob tonight, his first time away with Mommy and Daddy - without Sarah in a very long time. We took him ice skating, quite the experience. Jakob went from not being able to walk on the carpet in his skates to skating without using the wall, we are very proud of him. He only fell a few times, luckily he was wearing his mittens, (helped to cushion the inevitable fall). The great thing I figured out with ice skating is, if you are freaking out and whining, you just need to calm your body down and you'll be ok - so I used that a lot "Stop whining, calm your body down and you'll be fine," and he was. Also, pointing out people that aren't doing as well as him, helped too - not as nice, but it did boost his confidence seeing the 20 year old guy gripping the wall and falling!
About an hour into our ice skating, the Zamboni came out - quite exciting for Jakob to watch. Then there was a little performace by a young girl (9 or 10 years old). As she started her routine, she did one spin and Jakob yells "WOW!"
Then he says, "Mommy, does everyone get to take a turn by themselves after her?" (There are at least 75 people standing around waiting to get out on the ice)
Me:"No, honey, you have to be a very good person to get out there and do that."
J:"But, I am a good person."
Me:"Oh, I mean you have to be a good ice skater."
J:"I am a good skater, now."
Me:"You are getting to be good, but can you do what she does?"
J:"Oh, no. Can we go skate some more?"

First steps on the ice

Moving along the wall!

Getting braver!
No hands on the wall!

Jakob's special after ice skating treat! His first McDonald's soft serve cone - yes his 1st, (he has had one other soft serve, I think from Dairy Queen). Oh and yes, he ate the whole thing!

Jakob asked in the car, "When can I go ice skating again?" I am so happy that he wants to do it again and that it wasn't a traumatic experience!!