Roller Skates – Take One • 12.29.08
Piper received a pair of pink princess roller skates from Aunt Autumn for Christmas. Today was the day she got to try them out. She reminded us all day that we “promised” a trip to the park so she could skate like Minnie and Daisy, or at least start to learn. Along with the skates came knee and elbow pads to help on the falls that were sure to happen. We picked a park with a flat running track as a good starting place. The temperature was in the low sixties but very windy – there were two guys on the track playing with very large stunt kites. We bolted the skates onto Piper’s shoes but left off the pads since she would be holding our hands the first few times, or until she was confident enough to think she didn’t need our hands anymore.
It was interesting to see her reaction, and I wish I would have brought the camera. Walking in the skates didn’t really pose her much of a problem and she was able to move them around as needed for stepping but as soon as one would start to roll it was splitsville each time. Since she was holding onto either me or Missy during all this she didn’t fall but certainly would have and I think she realized it as well. After a few mishaps like this, even though they weren’t too bad she was through. We coerced her to the grass where she kept walking in them, basically just letting her get used to them on her feet before heading home. Even a little discouraged she still wants to keep practicing.
