Turning Six

Our daughter turned 6 years old today. Officially, the celebration began yesterday (as the day labor began 6 years ago).

Yesterday, she and I girded ourselves against the mild cold and wet, walked to the bus stop and rode to Westlake Center for hot drinks, window shopping, and a Monorail Ride to the Seattle Center. We sat up front with the Conductor on the Monorail, which is always fun.

When her feet hit the ice and slipped, her excitement wavered, but her faith in me did not. She immediately turned trusting eyes to me, expecting me to hold her hand and lead her confidently around the ice. With such confidence firmly placed in my ability, I stepped onto the ice, slipped ungracefully, recalled that it had been... oh, at least a decade and probably longer... that I'd been on ice skates, and stepped back off to reassess how to teach her when I needed to reteach myself. That's when I saw the walkers for the children to use as they learned. What a brilliant idea!

We got a walker for her, and I skated behind her holding onto the arms of the walker, guiding her as she figured out the feel of one foot in front of the other on ice. I remembered how to do it as she learned how to do it for the first time. After a few runs like this, we set the walker against the wall and had her skate to me about 4 feet away against the wall and back to the walker. Then, she skated alone with the walker; then to me without the walker for up to 10 feet. And at last, we stacked the walker with all the others outside the rink and stepped onto the ice to skate together, hand in hand, for the rest of the evening. We skated for 2 1/2-3 hours. Mercifully, I had extra children's socks packed... not for her, but to tuck into my skates to protect my bony ankles. She said her feet felt fine. It extended our skate time by at least an hour.

So our great adventure began the birthday weekend.

Today, we've celebrated by being slugs, her choice. Art projects, stories, a movie, a fire in the fireplace, a football game. With a birthday so close after Christmas and New Year's, I guess she was "peopled" and "evented" out. Perhaps later this year she'll want an UnBirthday party with friends and relatives. This year on her birthday, though, she wanted her parents and some peace and quiet.