Coming of Age

Today there was no school, so I took the kids roller skating.  The older 3 went flying around and around the rink, and Clementine and I waved and smiled as they went past.  She entertained herself by jogging up and down the room, then climbing atop the long benches and running along those.  When she came to a six inch chasm between two benches, she downward-dogged it across the gap, then successfully completed the stunt by pulling her knees over and crawling along the remaining bench with a squeal. 

That's when I noticed a small red paper on the floor between the benches.  Hm.  It was a "free skate rental for birthday party guest" coupon.  I asked some of the moms at the nearby birthday table if they had missed it or were going to use it.  Nope.  I didn't see any skateless children anywhere, so I ventured over to the skate counter to inquire, "Excuse me.  What is the SMALLEST skate you have??"

It turns out the smallest rental skate is a size 8 toddler.  Not bad.  But Clemmie is still in size 5 toddler.  Oh well.  I went ahead and got the skates and showed them to her.  On an adult, skates that weigh ten pounds each are mildly intimidating, so I was aghast to heft the buggers and realize that the toddler skates weigh the same.  

"Now, these are a bit too big and heavy for you, but let's go skate with the kids."  I velcroed her skates to her feet (huge smiles), slipped into my own rollerblades, and took off around the rink.  With my fingers hooked under her armpits, I was able to keep her upright between my feet as we sailed around.  Ugh!  Her lead feet were slowing me down TOO much, so I stopped by the skate desk again and had the wheels loosened extremely. (You know when you first get the skates they are so tight they don't roll at all, so the littlies can walk around without fear of rolling.)

Then we had some fun.  Clementine sang out "wheeee! wheee!" and valiantly attempted to move her feet in a skate-like motion as I swooshed her around the rink.  I even wrapped her blankie under her armpits at one point, so I could dangle her without having to bend over so much.  We took a break when the older kids competed in the limbo on skates, to which she cried, so I put the skates back on and took her around some more.

So, I'm guessing 17 months is just about the right age to start a kid on skates, even if she can't say "skates".  Why not?  She's clearly a girl after my own heart.  Wheee!