Magic on Ice

Sometimes magic happens. You know those times, when planned fun takes a twist, and around the corner there’s an adventure, and everything just falls into place? I’ve had lots of those lately – I’ve been really lucky.

Lit with glowing blue lights and brilliant green snowflakes dancing on the ice, Robson Square has its skating rink again. At one end a band (sorry, I have no clue who they were) played covers of happy, upbeat sing-along-able music, while people skated with varying degrees of ease around the rink. There were some who had surely taken figure skating as kids, some with more of a hockey style, kids playing tag, some just learning and using blue plastic frames to help them stay up. Some adults were using those too.

What a place for a kid to have his first skate!

It wasn’t a planned stop on our errands downtown on Saturday evening, but I couldn’t resist when we saw what all the fuss was about. We put on our rental skates (they were new!) and waited as a mini-zamboni cleared the ice. Cameron caught the excited mood in the air, and started dancing on his skates, playing with his balance, getting used to the feel. I should note, those rentals? Six bucks covered me and Cameron, including a helmet for him.

Finally, the gates were opened. We were among the first on the ice, with Cameron wide-eyed and holding tightly to my hands. He was determined not to fall, and somehow kept his feet under him.

A really helpful attendant helped us by getting one of the blue frames for Cameron, who eagerly let go of me in favour of independence. He wouldn’t let me help him, “No Mommy, let me do it!” But any time I moved beside or in front of him I was shooed back to play rear guard.

Slowly, skitteringly, he navigated around the rink and got the hang of it. A short break, and back out again. Now, he certainly didn’t get moving very fast, but if he thought about it, he could move himself around instead of just having his skates slide back and forth. He could turn, push forward, and even glance up and look around. Every time he looked back at me there were huge smiles.

Briefly, before it was time to go, Cameron decided enough with the frame. He instead hung from the rail for a while, carefully edging away from me, and back again. I could tell that he was just dying to let go and glide across the ice … but knew that this wasn’t the best idea to try just yet. In fact, letting go wasn’t even a great idea … yet.

There were no falls. No bumps. No tears. Just determination, followed by obvious pride and big smiles. Pure magic.

A Promise Kept

“Sure, we can do that someday, sweetheart,” I find myself saying a lot. Someday meaning waaaaay down the road to me, but maybe next week to Cameron. I try my hardest to not forget when I say we’ll do something, but let’s face it, it happens.

For ages, Cameron has been asking to go to the restaurant at the top of a tall building called Harbour Centre in downtown Vancouver. It had several attractive points for him: high up, a fancy restaurant for grownups, has glass elevators on the outside of the building, and it goes around and around! For that one, I didn’t say someday. I specified, “For your birthday.”

Last Sunday, after he’d had his birthday and his party, he quietly asked me, “Mommy? We haven’t gone to the restaurant yet, the one on the top of the building?” I reminded him firmly that I’d told him it couldn’t be that weekend, but we’d try to go the following one. I promised he’d get to go there soon.

You should’ve seen the look on his face when on Saturday I said to Leif, as we were planning our day, “Well, I thought we could take Cameron up to the restaurant at Harbour Centre today.”

What a wonderful afternoon!

In case you can’t tell, first thing he did was plaster himself against the windows. I had to keep asking him to sit in his seat – because the floor revolves, he’d just slowly get left behind.

That night, as I snuggled him to sleep, I asked if he’d liked going there. “Oh yes, Mama!” Was it what you’d thought it would be like? “Better!”

Start of a New Year

We’re winding down from a busy weekend of fun, visiting, and birthday celebrations. Cameron is four! He got almost all of his birthday wishes: a visit from Betty, a birthday party, a chocolate rocket cake with candles for him to blow out. He’s just missing one birthday wish, which I have to repeatedly assure him I’ve not forgotten about. There’s a restaurant at the very top of Harbour Centre, one that revolves around so you can see the whole city, and it has elevators that are on the outside of the building. He wants to go there for lunch, and he wants to push the buttons for the elevator. He’s been aching to do this for months! We’ll probably do that next weekend.

So now it’s time to settle in and play with new toys, wearing new clothes. His space shuttle occupies him for hours. Last night we played round after round of Pengoloo, and he’s getting the hang of it ever so quickly. He’s already figured out that he doesn’t need to show me what colour egg is under the penguin he checks – but he hasn’t yet learned to not say the colour. And he hasn’t yet learned to lie about the colour! He’s fascinated by Camelot Jr, and I’d guess it won’t be long before he’s playing with that at the table while I make dinner. Immediately after getting home tonight we went out to the patio with his new hockey sticks and puck (light plastic, so I’m not yet worried about the kitchen window). We yelled, cheered, scored, and laughed in the fresh air. Then we came in and set up his train tracks – he has a new elevated section and new rail cars. Last of all before dinner he had another package to open from Grandma and Grandpa. Books, some of the gingerbread cookies he’d helped make and decorate (worked very well as a bribe to get him to eat dinner), and a camera of his own! He was just about beside himself with excitement at this, and can’t wait to try it out. Why didn’t he? Ahhhh. Batteries. I don’t have enough of the right kind. Silly mama, I knew it was coming and didn’t ensure I had the right ones. It’s neat – he’s making the decisions as to what to do or play with, and he’s going through his new toys one by one, devoting his time and attention to it, really getting into it.

Then wind-down time for bed. He has a few new books, and is eager to read them. Last night he happily hopped into bed, hugging A Stranger in the Forest. “Betty brought it for  me,” he said, eyes bright, as he handed it to me. Tonight it was The Snow Bear’s turn, equally cherished. Tomorrow I’ll plant the idea of poems – Where the Sidewalk Ends.

I have the feeling that this is going to be a fun year filled with so many new adventures.

Lesson Learned

A while ago Cameron went through a phase where he wanted to watch Finding Nemo at all hours of the day and night. He’d beg and plead, and when I gave in and let him watch in the evening, I found that bedtime was worse than normal. He’d be wired, and find it tough to fall asleep.

It wasn’t just a Nemo-specific effect I found out.

Tonight I let Cameron watch Zigby on Treehouse after his bath for a special treat. Now, Treehouse is a new thing for us. I’ve never had Cameron watch much TV, and what he’s watched has been mostly videos, but now we’ve got cable. Cameron was rapt, and sat in awe through the first clip. The second clip had him laughing and clapping his hands – not an imitation-of-friends laugh, not a social-laugh-because-I-should laugh, but an all out real belly laugh. It sounded so good.

He willingly turned off the TV when the show was over, as I requested.

Then all hell broke loose.

He wanted to PLAY! He wanted to RUN, to JUMP, to DANCE, and playplayplayPLAY! Listening? Forget it. Sit still? No way. He had zero ability to focus, and was like his brain was on fast-forward. At bed time.

He’s now been in bed for an hour, and he’s still wound up. Everything brought on tears, wails, sobs, whines. The light from outside was too bright (blinds get installed Thursday, hasn’t been a real issue until tonight though), but wait, it was too dark and he wanted a night light. It’s not his birthday YET? SOB! Finally, he’d lie still for a few minutes, I’d think he was dropping off, and then, “BUT MOMMY! How did the bell get into the cow to go jingle-jingle like that when I shake him?” Nevermind that the cow in question is on the other side of his room.

I gave up. I’m out in the living room so I don’t go batty with every twitch, and so maybe he won’t have anyone to ask random questions of. He cried for a bit. Now his “Polar Bear” and “Bunny” are having a discussion about riding in Santa’s sleigh, and “Dragon” is telling them both that he came from Betty and so must be Betty’s Baby.

TV is clearly a before-supper thing.

Learning the Lay of the Land

Our old neighbourhood I knew inside and out. Of course, I’d lived there for years. I never really ‘explored’, exactly, but instead just learned the neighbourhood bit by bit. I took up running for a little bit … until I remembered just how much I hate it. I go through phases like that where I’ll be inspired to run, think there’s noting to it but determination and just plain doing it, then a week or so later wonder what the hell I was thinking. But this isn’t about running. Back to topic. I’d take a different route to a friend’s house, or head to a store I knew had something I needed.

With an almost-four-year-old though, things are a little different. I need to know where the parks are, where the playgrounds are, what roads are busy, which ones are nice to walk on, how to get here and there. So Cameron and I have set off two days in a row now deliberately to explore.

The funny part about this is that Cameron knows the neighbourhood. This is new, and is taking some adjusting. My not-yet-four-year-old led me by the hand to the playground he wanted to visit on Saturday. It’s several blocks away and to the best of my knowledge he’d been there only once, over a month ago. I love his new daycare – they go for walks!

Then today he knew the way to the stairs I wanted to find – he’d been down them with Leif on Saturday afternoon when they went for a walk to let me have a nap.

Slowly, we’re learning the lay of the neighbourhood. Both Saturday and Sunday we headed out with an area in mind to explore – a playground to find, a park to walk through, shops to see. I try to combine them, so I get to learn what is where, and Cameron gets to run and play a bit. From what I can tell, this exploration will take us some time. We’re surrounded by forested parks. We’re in playground central. There is a neat shopping area just up from us, and a more mainstream one just a fifteen minute walk down from us. There are community centres, a neighbourhood house, a pool, a library, and who knows what else all within walking distance.

Slowly, the apartment is becoming home. And gradually, the neighbourhood is too.