Have an ice day...

Saturday mornings now find us at the local ice rink for Kay and Emma's skating lessons.  I'd enrolled the girls in the beginner's class.  But when they stepped out on the ice and just took off, skating rings around the true beginners and helping to pass out skating frames, the intructor moved them up to the next level. 

Minnesotans don't let silly things like sub-zero winter weather interfere with their love of the outdoors.  And from the temperature inside the rink, one can infer that the guilt they feel for skating indoors is in some way mitigated by keeping the entire complex at a lovely 25 to 30 degrees Farenheit.  I wear my Land's End coat, snow boots, thick socks, and gloves just to watch the lessons.  And, I'm not complaining.  Nope.  It's really fun to watch the girls skate.   

Kay skates with no fear, trying new moves with wild abandon and zipping around the rink with marvellous energy, eyes open for someone to help.  The trade-off for the wild abandon is a lack of finesse and control, resulting in quite a lot of spectacular falls.  Really spectacular falls.  And, because she's anxious to try out the big fancy moves, she doesn't have much patience for the basics.  

From across the ice and behind the hockey glass sound barrier, I can tell the level of her frustration by the droop in her shoulders.  About halfway through the lesson she skates off alone for a moment, breaths deeply and wipes off a few tears; then she comes back to attack the move again.  She's holding herself in check and showing much more persistance then she's ever shown before.  However, the more frustrated she gets the more floppy-soggy her limbs become, and the more spectacularly and frequently she falls.  Her fantastic teachers cheerfully prod her to keep trying and give her shameless praise when she persists.  She lasts about another ten minutes before coming off the ice for a complete break and pep talk from me.  But, as frustrating as it is for Kay in the 2nd half of the lesson, she continues to start out excited and keen to get on the ice at the beginning.  Thank goodness.  Her body and mind recognize somewhere in there that she really needs this class.  It helps that she has these positive and firm teachers who don't give up on her.

Emma is altogether a more patient and elegant bird on ice.  I'm astonished with her grace, actually.  She moves with a beautiful fluid delicacy which I didn't know she possessed (after watching the lumoxy galumphing she displayed during gymnastics, which she also loved).  But, the trade-off for her style is that she's more timid and takes a little longer to perfect a move than Kay does.  Emma works through the exercises with graceful determination and often manages to make a friend by the end of class as well.  She's as diligent about learning the names of the girls in her class as she is about getting the moves right. 

She's also demonstrating a unexpectedly high degree of compassion for Kay's frustration.  (And there is much rejoicing in the bleachers!)  Emma often complains about Kay's presence in any class with her.  Like poor Ron Weasley, Emma craves recognition of her own and finds Kay's squeaky wheel mode thoroughly galling.  I've made a concerted effort this year to praise Emma individually and give her leadership moments.  However, she also has to come to terms with the fact that Kay is her sister and is naturally squeaky.  The girls are under direct maternal orders to stand at opposite ends of the class and to treat one another as ordinary classmates.  But for the last two weeks, Emma, in an unexpected display of sisterly compassion, has begun tuning in to Kay towards the middle of the class period and coming to help her up after spectacular falls. 

The teacher, who thinks they're twins, keeps sending Emma away and helping Kay herself, but I'm secretly cheering.  The teacher (based on experience with her own twins) told me that she's trying to give them their own individual time.  I told her I was pleased about Emma's compassion, but I didn't correct her about the twins.  I'm so entertained when people think they look so alike.  We even had a life guard one summer who couldn't tell them apart.  *snerk*   I'm also relieved to finally find something Emma's passionate about.  After all that battling over piano lessons and homework, it's thrilling to find her chomping at the bit to get to skating lessons.  Hooray for ice!