Tots on Ice

Friday was an eventful day, what with baking poppyseed cupcakes, listening to Hank the Cowdog books on CD, goofing around at GymPlay, madly scrubbing the kitchen while the girls were at school (WHY did you break, Shark steam cleaner? I HATE you!!!), and then eating a snack in the car and tootling off to ice skating.

Sydney has never been on ice skates before. Willow was signed up for lessons two years ago, but flatly refused to actually attend them, and so I consider this each girl's first real ice skating class. And let me tell you, there is no comedy like the slapstick comedy of Ice Skating-Tot Level, especially on the first day:


Sydney comported herself quite well for a three-year-old on skates still a little too big at the smallest size stocked at the rink (said another woman at the desk as I was collecting our skates--"Oh, those tiny little skates are just DARLING!"), and Will took to the ice like a duck takes to water, so they say. I have visions of hockey sticks dancing in my head.

One of the special activities in the Tot class? When you have down time, you get to color on the ice with dry erase markers!
They don't put this in the manual, but a couple of things I'd suggest if you have Tots of your own: make mittens a contractual obligation, and highly encourage the snowpants.

And bring a book, sure, but the class will likely be too hilarious for you to look away, and anyway, you have to be ready to beam and wave whenever little faces come over to peep at you and make sure that you're watching:Which, of course, you always are.

In other news, my brand-new ipod (Thanks, Matty!) not only allows me to listen to podcasts and show the girls Sesame Street videos when they threaten to fight in public, but also to take videos(!), and hence my Shethecougar (long story) youtube page. Check it out for more antics.