Hockey night in Chicago

His first hockey class was fun. He started off without being able to even walk in his skates off the bench when we first put them on. He was some excited though.

The skates were from the neighbours and fit just fine. Their son, Nicolas had outgrown them.

Once he got on the ice he was holding on to those metal bars that he really leaned on. The coach, coach Charlie believe it or not, was encouraging Charlie to look up and pitter patter his feet.

I think what was funnier was us on the sidelines. Eileen and I were way more excited than Charlie himself. When he fell onto the ice I saw Eileen wanting to lurch onto the ice to help him. He even looked over at us but as we encouraged him on to get up he simply swam over to his glove that fell off then back to the bar and pulled himself up. That was the single most important step of the day, except for getting on the ice which absolutely was not a problem at all since Charlie just about lurched on immediately since putting on the skates.

Knowing that he could get himself back up with a big deal for him and from then on whenever he fell he really never looked back at us again.

He did great.

Eventually we moved to the other side of the rink and opened the door and had him go back and forth to each side of the rink. This got him propelling forward a bit, still a struggle but really at this point the basics where in place to just keep doing it over and over until he gets the feel of it.

Yes, he was exhausted as it was very late in the day and he was hungry too. But he plugged away and asked the coach where the nets were and if he could have hockey stick. Of course, he couldn't even stand up properly but the hockey stick in his mind was key to being able to score goals.

After about 45 minutes he was tired and ready to go so we had him say thanks to the two coaches then walked off the ice. The funny part was that he actually walked out on his own in the skates. He had developed enough independance that he no longer needed us to hold him and he realized he could walk in those skates easily on his own.

That was a moment.

He did great and best of all Mom did great. To me that was the best entertainment was watching Eileen.

Next, golf.

The next morning after the hockey charlie did complain about soareness in his back. Clearly from how he worked his different muscles during the practice.