jennanddave.com

Henry has taken a shine to ice skating. We tried to take him a couple of years ago, but he wasn't going to have anything to do with standing on two thin pieces of metal attached to boots, especially when you had to wear them on ice. Did you know ice is slippery? And that you can fall? And that falling hurts? He was, however, highly interested in the concession stand, which was totally fine with me because I was pregnant with Holly and had just passed the morning sickness phase of things. So Henry and I sat on the bleachers with our hot dogs, nachos, and blue Slush Puppies and happily watched Dave go around and around and around...

While chatting with friends at the bus stop one morning, it came out that a certain other Kindergartener not only loved ice skating, but was taking lessons, and maybe we should all go skating together some weekend. Henry heartily agreed, but as the day drew closer and closer, he realized what "going ice skating" actually involved, and he sobered up on the concept a bit. Finally on the day of, he declared he didn't want to go. We told him he didn't have to skate if he didn't want to, but that we were still going to go anyway. He heaved a great sigh as if there couldn't be more bothersome parents on the face of the Earth, then said he'd try ice skating after all, a statement which was met with raised eyebrows on the part of both me and Dave, after which there was a mad rush to get everyone into the car and to the rink before a certain someone changed his mind.

He didn't change his mind. Instead, he had a blast. The afternoon was full of skating, punctuated by trips to the concession stand to refuel. The sight of Dave and Henry slowly going around the rink, with Henry's skates scuffling at such a high rate of motion they're a blur, is truly something to behold, as is the permanent, toothy grin and fervent, proud waving whenever the young man passes by where Holly and I are sitting. With one exception, we've gone every weekend since. It's a good way to pass a Sunday afternoon.