Max's first skate

What a month. We've been a bit slammed at Casa Stardom. First, Leo had what was possibly the flu. It turned out to not be the flu, but Max and I got our shots anyway. Max was (as always) cucumber-cool, saying "Ow" with a deadpan tone as he got his shot. Awesome. Then, Leo had something that looked more flu-like (with a good vomit all over his car seat in the van!) that compelled Holly to get her shot. It turns out that Leo had (another) double ear infection so antibiotics for him. Then, Holly somehow developed a rashy reaction combined with an infection at her flu shot injection site, leading to a round of antibiotics for her and many sleepless nights. Then, I got sick for the first time since being off with the kids (it was a great run). It was a good sinus cold that lasted about a week, so not serious, but not great either. Then, yesterday, I wrenched my back at the Science and Tech museum with the kids. It was a LOOOONG walk back to the van and super fun trying to get the kids in their seats. Max has been OK, aside from a strange fever that popped up mid-day this past Monday and Tuesday and then disappeared. Leo is teething furiously (he's up to 11 now) so he tends to only nap 45 minutes each day and is waking up at 2ish each night. That whole "Leo will put himself to sleep" thing lasted about a week and now he'll let us leave the room but can't seem to seal the deal without some rocking or maybe back-rubbing. Oh well, the extra hour of grown-up time each night is still awesome.

So in the midst of all that, we've been able to do some cool things this past month. One of the coolest was getting Max skating for the first time. We had planned to go a bit earlier in the month with Max's friend Maddie and her entourage, but had to spend some time running around town getting Max skates and a helmet. Canadian Tire had the bobskates (two blades instead of one for stability and they attach to his boots) - cheap and adjustable so we'll be able to reuse them easily for Leo. We splurged on a new helmet for Max at Sport Mart - we had heard that it's really hard to find helmets that are small enough for 3-year-old heads so I figured it would be even harder to find them used. So when we tried this youth helmet on and it fit with a little bit of room to spare, I took it. Maybe it will fit again next year. If not, Leo will surely be in the zone.

Max has had some issues recently with saying that he's really excited about something new, but then when he gets to whatever we're going to do, he balks and decides that he doesn't want to do it anymore. I was a little concerned that was going to happen with the skating too, but then again he's so into the idea of playing hockey that maybe his fears would take a back seat. When we got to the rink, he was still keen. He was really excited to be wearing the equipment so we gave it a go. While I would be dealing with Max, Holly skated Leo around the ice in his stroller.

I started by holding one of his hands while his other hand was on the boards. However, the slipperiness of the ice and all of the other emotions overwhelmed Max and he cried, wanting to leave after a few steps. I was determined to make it work, so I took Max's mitts off and held both of his hands, skating backward while he slid/walked along. By the time we got to the end boards, he was beaming. If he slipped, I was stable enough to keep him upright so I figure he felt pretty safe. After that, we toured the rink, checking out where goalies stand and the faceoffs happen. Then, Max and Maddie decided to have some fun falling down and sprawling all over the ice. I'm glad this happened because I think Max was a bit nervous about falling. Before leaving, Mommy and Max checked out the players' benches and the penalty boxes. Max absolutely loved it. In fact, he said "Now that I know how to skate, I'd like to play hockey next time". How's that for confidence?

Here are some pictures of our skate night. Many thanks to our friends who snapped the pictures while we were with the kids!