A milestone in life

Well, last weekend I decided it was time for the next step in Liam's development.

ICE SKATING.

Any good boy with a scrap of Canadian in him needs to get out on the ice at some point and last weekend seemed like a good moment. I had a good feeling about it since Liam helped me pack my hockey equipment pretty often and he always likes to hold my "special shoes"

We drove over to the arena where I play for one of the public skating sessions. I actually had visions of epic failure as Liam is not the sort of kid who sticks with things when they are too difficult and skating is certainly a bit intimidating in the beginning.

First step was to go and rent some tiny tiny skates. They closed with buckles like those on ski boots, not laces like grown up ones.
Then we headed over and got all our gear on, you can see Claudia next to him tightening up her skates. She has a nice pair of figure skates that she bought while living in Canada. I of course have my goalie skates.
Then it was out on the ice. I held his hands to keep him on his feet the whole time. His feet were shooting out from under him in every direction and he was not too sure what was going on. a few times I would let him get down onto the ice and then he would sit there, laugh and yell at me "I'M SITTING ON THE ICE NOW."

It was a total hit, he liked the crazy legs, he liked the ice and he liked to go "so fast" when I helped him. After 30 min or so, he could stand reasonably well with support. Here are a couple of proud daddy with the ice boy. Look Dave, I am in TWO photos.

There is also some tiny skater support devices there that you can borrow. A 1 meter tall penguin with handles you can hold on to and push, and a chair with metal runners. We opted for the chair, so Liam could alternately skate pushing behind it, or sit on it and get a ride. This was also a big hit and he is still talking about how he "drove the chair so fast."

When it was time to go home, he held on to the rented skates and told us we needed to bring them home with us, and in the car he kept telling us that we had to go skating again tomorrow. I am sure we will go again quite soon, it is still a popular topic of chatter at breakfast.