I have said this before but I can't deny it. Zoe, my 4 year old daughter is MY hero. Today was a very hard day for me emotionally, she suggested I go out for a walk with her and grandma. Once we were out she said the fresh air would do good to me. On our way home she asked if my saddeness was gone, well of course it did. It's just one of those moments were your brain registers how the children you have are perfect for you. Lucas got some new boxers today and we can only see how much our little guy has grown too. He is doing great at potty learning, all in just one week. His incentive is to go see a movie, Zoe's motivation at that time was to go swim at the public pool.
Yesterday was the kids skating show practice, both Carl and I were volunteers, him with Zoe's group and me with the toddler group Lucas is in. Fifteen little kids to dress up and tie skates on, luckily two more parents stayed to help, that was still 5 pairs of skates to tie on and 2 costumes to put on each kid. Then one hour to wait until it was time for them to hop on the ice. Oye! Lucas was the only trouble free boy and then all the girls were happily sitting colouring to pass time. He was trying to help by telling the other very active boys to sit down. He wasn't taking this craziness too well, he was calm and eager to skate. Once the kids got on the ice they practiced both their numbers twice, then Zoe's group did the same. When that was finally done and with all the wait in between, we had to take costumes off, dress back each kid in their original clothes and send them off to their parents. I was exhausted! For many reasons the kids did not perform at their skating show tonight nor will they tomorrow. Safety issues and conflicts have made it that we decided that our children would not benefit from being stressed out over a 20 minute time on the ice over a two hour period (that is combining both numbers for each kid).
Also if the kids want to keep on taking figure skating lessons we will be joining another club next fall. I don't care if a skating club does things in a way for 28 years, if the safety of my children is in jeopardy I will make sure to protect them. As a rule we have always thought the kids to wear a helmet when on their bicycles, rollerskates and iceskates. I will not bend the rule for cuteness factor, safety is number one in our family especially when it comes to head injuries. Lucas almost had a concussion in fall '02, I will do my best to never have a child go through that again. Having the kids miss their skating show was harder on my than on them but I saw my boy lost on the ice last night. He was stressed out and had no idea what was going on, his big sister was in a similar position. I guess my kids just aren't ready to be under spotlights yet 'cause those lights were hurting their eyes. ;)
So in all of this it is my kids that took care of me. When I was afraid I was making them miss out of their little skating fame, they thought me that the show wasn't the most important part but that skating in safety was. That said we are planning to go skate with them soon. I am very proud that my kids, even though small, respected my decision as a parent. Sadly I will never have pictures of them in their costumes though, Lucas was a yellow duckly and a powder blue Ken and Zoe had a number with Star Wars and The Flinstones theme songs.
That's how our weekend has been going, Zoe has been hinting about ballet or gymnastics lessons. Oh and they shall include her little brother too. I just love how she looks out for him even if they annoy each other at times. ;)
hugs,
p/s: I miss knitting!