How do we glide?? Let me just tell you.

When Fergus was about three my BIL (Chris) was still at York University and playing hockey with the York Yeomen. He and Fergus thought that Fergus might like to learn to skate and so for Christmas or his birthday (I can't remember which) Fergus received a new pair of skates.

Chris took Fergus out onto the ice and patiently tried to teach my son how to balance on the ice. Fergus' issue at the time is one that I continue to suffer with. He wants to try a new skill after having had it described to him and then he wants to perfectly execute said skill. As you can imagine, if you have ever been skating before, it was not as easy as it looked -- or as he wanted it to be.

He hung up his skates after a few attempts and then Chris finished at York before Quinn got a chance to learn from his beloved uncle. We never thought to try as a family because Fergus had been so miserable about it.

In December Quinn was invited to participate in a weekly skating exercise with Alex, another homeschooled boy in town. I warned the adult taking them that Quinn had never been on skates before and so I didn't know how they would all fare. I had nothing to worry about. While Quinn didn't step onto the ice and immediately take off with perfect balance and beautiful cross-cuts, he did manage to have enough fun to want to continue on this path every Tuesday afternoon.

By the winter holidays Fergus' curiousity was piqued. He thought that he may, too, enjoy whiling away some of his time on the unforgiving ice surface here in town. Cool! He and I set off for the second-hand skate store. (As unlikely as this may sound to some of you in the south this *is* Canada after all. There are TWO of these types of stores in our town. I know. I didn't believe it myself until I was looking for a store in which to buy inexpensive skates.) We each managed to find a pair of hockey skates. No toe-pics. That was going to be a bit of a challenge for me but hey, I hadn't been on skates in (dare I say it) probably 20+ years so the lack of toe-pics weren't going to be my only hurdle.

We went out a couple of weeks ago and Fergus had a GREAT time. By the end of the first hour his feet hurt and his knees felt weak but he was ecstatic! He had had a wonderful time. By the end he was managing to glide for short distances and wasn't feeling the need to hang onto the wall. What a wonderful change in such a short time.

This past Tuesday Fergus and I planned to skate with Quinn and his friend, Alex. Unfortunately we were not home from my MIL's ophthalmologist appointment to make it worthwhile to pay to skate. Since Quinn is only 6 he skates free so we popped his skates on for the last 20 minutes. I promised Fergus that he, Quinn and I would skate the following day (Wednesday) when we would have a chance to spend the whole 80 minutes on the ice. My MIL, Christena, was with us while Quinn was skating and loved watching the kids on the ice.

Christena used to be something of a seasoned skater herself, when her children were young. She did ice dancing and all kinds of other, more technical moves. As soon as she saw Quinn on the ice you could see her starting to become excited about the prospects of moving about on frozen water.

Well, Wednesday dawned bright and early and by noon all of us were psyched about heading to the arena. The boys and I were settling in to eat some lunch before leaving when Christena came up to visit. (Given she lives downstairs, these brief visits are normal and expected.) She asked if I would take her to the second-hand skate store so she could get some skates. She had been thinking about it all night and really wanted the chance to join us on the ice.

Off we went. She walked into the store (try to imagine a store -- much like a grocery store -- with rows of shelves lined with skates), saw a pair she liked, tried them on and bought them. We were in and out of the store (including time spent sharpening the blades) in less than ten minutes. It was really funny.

She helped me get the boys laced up and we were on the ice by 1:00. She took one hesitant step (not having been skating since Doug was a young boy) before pushing off and skating comfortably and confidently. She isn't jumping . . . YET! It will happen in the next couple of weeks I bet.

She and I alternated helping each of the boys back and forth over the 80 minutes we skated. With the focused concentration the boys received we were able to help them make massive improvements in their skills. Fergus was flying around the rink (relative to how he had been circulating the edges the week before) by the time we had to leave.

Christena plans to come with us every week and the boys are so excited that she wants to do this with us. (Me too!)