Joining the suburban legion of soccer moms

Well, not a soccer mom, an ice skating mom. In an effort to provide Fiona with a better example than the sloth-filled weekends of TV watching and nap taking we've been enjoying lately, I enrolled her in skating lessons with every other 3 to 5 year old in a 20 mile radius. I was surprised to find it wasn't just a huge, beautifully-coiffed Stepford mom convention with all of their well-scheduled perfect offspring. Of course, there was the one family who enrolled a kid quite obviously younger than 3. Trying to get a leg up on the Olympics I guess, we have to start 'em young if they have any hope of a gold medal. There was also a hockey dad who had already outfitted his 3 year old kid in hockey skates and full-on goalie's helmet with face mask. Everyone else seemed pretty normal and not too high-strung or obviously "suburban."

Of course I woke up late this morning and forgot every single thing I had intended to bring to the first class today. Unfortunately, it was kind of important stuff like gloves, a helmet, and a camera. Oops, I was the suck mom today!

The class was incredibly cute. Imagine 15 little kids who can't always walk across the room without falling over suddenly strapped into ice skates and tossed out on the ice. They all just kind of stood there, trying as hard as possible not to move, but still having their feet slide out from underneath them randomly. It was like reverse popcorn, preschoolers plopping down all over. Fiona was pretty tentative about it at first, but she's excited about going back again next week to give it another shot. Maybe I'll actually remember her mittens.