| Princess Elsa from the Disney movie Frozen singing "Let It Go" |
Klailklop was otherwise occupied all day, so I proposed that we go ice skating. Singularity immediately said yes. I asked him if he wanted to bring a friend, but he said no. I couldn't get him to explain why, so I assume that it was to have a special Mom and Singularity outing. :)
Skating is something we have done a couple of other times in the past year, with the Cub Scouts and again with a couple of Singularity's friends. Both of those times, Singularity was afraid of falling, but he got right out onto the ice, as long as he could hold my hand. And both times his level of engagement was of simply allowing himself to be pulled along with me.
Once I had laced both of us into our skates, we headed toward the entrance to the ice. Singularity was scared. I assured him that I would hold his hand the whole time, and that I would not let him fall. He wasn't ready. So we played air hockey.
We went back to the ice. He was still scared. So he asked me to find another "bad skater" and hold their hand. I found a willing mom of small children, and we skated around the rink holding hands. We did not fall.
Thus was Singularity convinced that he (probably) wouldn't fall, and he agreed to skate two laps around the ice. On our first lap around the ice, he clutched my hand with one hand, and with the other he held onto the wall. Interestingly, since he was holding onto the wall, he felt safe enough to shuffle his feet and get the feel of the ice. We didn't fall.
On our second lap around the ice, we had to go around somebody who was just standing still along the wall. Singularity continued to clutch my hand, but he let go of the wall. Again, we didn't fall. And we played air hockey again.
On our third attempt, Singularity had become much more comfortable with the idea of skating. I told him that we would skate as many laps as we could in 20 minutes. This time, he didn't even try to hold onto the wall. I also noticed that we were going faster. His feet were moving more and more. Singularity was running a commentary on Minecraft, so I bent down to hear what he was saying, and then he said the most amazing thing:
"I'm using one foot to push off and the other foot to glide."
He had really figured out what your body does when you skate. Not only was he doing it, but he was articulate about it. Yay, Singularity!
As terrific as that is, I was equally impressed by what he had done earlier in asking me to find a bad skater and help them. He had realized that one way not to be so scared was to see me successfully help another skater. It was a really creative way of dealing with his fear.
Singularity never did let go of my hand, but he did let go . . . of the wall. I'm not sure when he will let go of my hand, but I am sure that he will.
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This post is dedicated, with gratitude, to the mom who let me "help" her around the ice, and as always to the singular kid I am so proud to call my son.
Go, Singularity! I see a confident skater in your future.
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