Skating and Power Outages

We went out skating last night after dinner. We went to a local arena for their Friday night public skate and met some friend for a fun family night.

It was so much fun, and cheap too.

In my previous post, I was telling you about how S was just rarin' to go, and telling me that he didn't need any help. He's four. R has been really excited about the idea of skating as well, and I've been telling her that she might fall and that's ok. She is usually painfully cautious. She takes her time with EVERYTHING. She didn't learn to ride a bike until last year. She's almost 7.

Well, talk about a role reversal once we got on the ice.

S was the one that took one slippy step and insisted on going home RIGHT now. R held onto the wall until she got to one of those frame things that slide across the ice, and then she was GONE. She kept falling and getting up again and going faster and faster. Eventually she tried skating without the frame and when she fell she didn't get upset at all.

I can't tell you how out of character this is for R. Or for S. But, instead of reacting the way I usually do, that is to push R into something before it is her idea, and letting S decide when to do something new, I remembered what I've been reading about in these books.

Skating was R's idea. She has been talking about it for a few weeks now because her class is going to be skating at the outdoor rink in the school yard once a week until March Break. She has been really excited and talking about what kind of skates she'll have and how she'll do tricks on the ice and play hockey and go really fast. She is ready and prepared mentally for taking on this new challenge.

S has been excited as well and is imitating his older sister by talking about he'll have boy skates and score goals and go faster than anyone else. He is completely sure of his ability to master this new skill with very little effort.

Well, R has really benefited from my encouragement but also from my not pushing her before she feels she is ready. And when we got to the rink, I could see that S was going to benefit from my pushing him to keep going even though he wanted to go home.

Boys and girls are so different! I am just loving this adventure parenting a boy and a girl.

Skates

I went out yesterday to get R's first pair of skates sharpened and to look for some second hand skates for S. We went to a local sporting goods consignment store and the clerk measured S and we tried on a couple of pairs. He was very excited about the prospect of having skates and was paying way more attention than he usually does.

It was obvious that the first pair was a little small. So then we tried on the second pair and the clerk asked S to stand up and see how they felt. I tried to hold his hand to help him balance and the kept swatting my hand away! He said " I don't need any help", "Let go of me Mommy".

And then he proceeded to walk up and down the mat to demonstrated that he is in fact a BIG BOY and doesn't need any help. He just looked so pleased with himself. Even when he wobbled a little and almost feel over, he just grinned and compensated.

I've been reading a book called "Boys Adrift" by Dr. Leonard Sax. He talks about different environmental and societal pressures that are affecting boys and how those factors influence what kind of men they grow into.

I read his first book "Why Gender Matters" last week. That book looked into brain differences in boys and girls and talked about how to approach gender differences in teaching and raising boys and girls.

I'm going to have to go into more later, but I can't recommend these books highly enough.

St. Marguerite Bourgeoys

Today is the feast day St. Marguerite Bourgeoys.

St. Marguerite was born in France in 1620 and came to Canada in 1653. She started a school in 1658 and returned to France in 1659 and 1670 to recruit more teachers.

These women became the first sisters in the Congregation de Notre Dame.

St. Marguerite made a big impression on me as a child and even now as an adult she continues to be inspiring. Just imagine leaving France and coming to what was a rough, alien, and dangerous new colony. And then on top of that she devoted her life to serving that colony and building a community of sisters that would go on to continue her mission to this day. She accepted native american women into her order as well as teaching children in native villages and missions. This was at a time when most people were still debating whether non-europeans were human.

I remember one of my favourite activities at this time of year at school was celebrating St. Marguerite's feast day. She was canonized in 1982 by Pope John Paul II. I went to kindergarten in 1982 so perhaps her feast day was celebrated because she was such a new saint, and a while she hadn't been born in Canada, she did live out her life and vocation here.

On January 12 at my elementary school in Ottawa we would make molasses taffy. The teachers made the taffy and then poured it on the snow to cool down and each child took turns pulling it. I remember being so fascinated by the process and I loved how the taffy changed colour when we pulled it. It wasn't my favourite taste in the world, but that didn't seem to matter.

What mattered, and it is obvious that it did because decades later I still remember, is that we were doing something different from our everyday routine to honour this women who had lead a holy life. It made her real to my 5 year old self. I'm not sure what the connection between St. Marguerite and molasses taffy is, but it was still effective.

So in honour of St. Marguerite Bourgeoys I'm going to try to make molasses taffy with my children this weekend. I'm going to use this recipe. I'll let you know how it turns out.

Our Lady's love is like a stream that has its source in the Eternal Fountains, quenches the thirst of all, can never be drained, and ever flows back to its Source. Saint Margaret Bourgeoys
Pray for us.

What's for Sunday Dinner?

So what are you having for dinner tonight?

I'm a big proponent of using meals to mark certain days as special and other days as ordinary. I don't think that we need to be making a fancy meal for our families every day. When you make a special meal on a special day, even if the kids don't understand WHY this day is special they understand that today is different than yesterday. Eventually they will come to the WHY, but right now you want them to just experience.

So, I'm pretty sure that we aren't going to my mother's house for dinner, and I'm going to take a roast out of the freezer in a few minutes. I should have done it last night and thawed it in the fridge, but we'll just have to live dangerously. I'll make a rare roast with a dijon and garlic crust, mashed olive oil potatoes, and steamed carrots. I'm also going to make a lemon meringue pie, and R is going to help. She doesn't know that yet, but she will.

So what are you having for Sunday dinner?

Well, this is awkward.

A first blog post is so much like coming up to someone and saying "will you be my friend?". Really geeky, not cool, and potentially pretentious.

But here it is! My first blog post, and I will not delete and do it over again everyday for a week until I give up and let yet another blog get dusty.

By the way, I looked up 'awkward', but it still doesn't look right. Can that really be how it is spelled?