Skater Noah

Say hello to Noah the skater.  Despite being dog-tired at the end of a school day, Noah does not fail to get excited to go skating.  We signed him up for the Learn-to-Skate session a few weeks ago after a little bit of discussion: "You know what this means, Faith," my husband said, "they are grooming little hockey players over there."  Gene played basketball and we've been joking for some time about hanging -basketballs over Noah's bed in order to ward off hockey fever.  

Note to those that do not live in hockey states:  In Maine, little kids love to play hockey.  We get sort of crazy in the winter over our hockey teams: UMaine Black Bears and of course the Boston Bruins.  I sort of get it - but Mark and Lisa are big fans of the Bruins (remember their Bruins contest win last season?) and the Bruins won the Stanley Cup last year.  So there's lots of hockey goin' on here in Maine. 

I have always been nervous at the thought of my kid playing hockey.  There are several factors that make it challenging.  1) Sitting in cold ice arenas (you know me - I wear fleece socks to bed.) 2) Cost.  Oh my gosh.  Skates are around $100, all the pads, equipment, fees for ice time - yikes.  And then if your kid is on a team that travels you can count on spending a night or two in a hotel anywhere in New England or Canada.  I'm not exaggerating!  My friend Becky and her family live it.  

At Alfond and ready to go but an elbow pad already fell off!

But here's the deal.  My darling Noah has a lot of energy.  He needs to be active and when there is no lawn to mow and the plowing has been done -- it's just harder to find fun things to do when it's really cold outside...so we are learning to skate.  That's it.  Learning to skate.  And if he loves hockey - well, we will cross that bridge when we get there.

So we start to get ready about 1/2 hour before we go to Alfond Arena.  I get Noah in his Under Armour and pads, etc and then sort of shove him in his car seat.  He's considerably bigger in his gear.  We skated without the gear the first night and it was not fun - Noah was cold damp; had sore knees and butt from all the falling.  It makes me more confortable watching when Noah has the gear on.  We were able to rent it for $25 a season.  A bargain.  

Then we take the skate guards off and Noah sort of scoots around the ice.  The hockey parents told me not to make eye contact with him and not to let him off the ice.  The first lesson Noah alternated between crawling on the ice on all fours and crying for me to get him out of there.  

Noah stepping on to the ice

A little wipe out.  I'm trying not to make eye contact but the camera is obvious. 

Noah in the same hallway that the Maine Black Bears use to get from the locker room to the ice!

The next lesson, though, Noah couldn't wait to get back on the ice. He's doing great - sometimes listening to the instructors and following directions, and other times just skating in another direction with short breaks to make a snow angel on the ice.  

Side note:  just got a call from Joanne at Montessori.  She said that they had wonderful news - Noah had just completed the 100's board!  Noah has been avoiding the math/numbers in the room for quite a while - the 100's board requires a lot of time to sit and focus and trace ALL the numbers from 1 to 100. Quite a task for a 4 1/2 year old!  Noah completed it proudly this morning and it was cool to get the phone call and hear him so proud of his accomplishment.  

Later that afternoon, Joanne said he wanted to do it again.