The Next Wayne Gretzky?

Ok... she's probably not the next Wayne Gretzky, but she definitely could be the next Erika Lawler.

I took Emma ice skating today for the first time and she loved it. She has been asking to go skating for months now, but we just haven't had time to go until now. With the Olympics going on right now, talk about ice skating and ice hockey has been a constant in our house, especially with a Fitchburg native and former student at Bill's school being on the US hockey team. We headed out today to the rink, with Emma having dreams of playing ice hockey like Erika when she got there.

She was wicked psyched when she got her skate rentals and they were hockey skates ("Mom! Like Erika's!" she yelled) and did awesome cruising around (the floor) while I laced up my skates. I was so impressed and surprised at how quickly she adjusted to walking in her skates. She looked like she had been skating for years :o). However, once we hit the ice, she was in a rude awakening. She was eager to get out there, thinking that she was just going to step on the ice and be off, so she was pissed when she took that first step onto the rink and her feet went in all different directions. But she did great as she held both of my hands and took the first lap around the rink. The second time around, she was a little braver and put one hand on the boards and held only one of my hands. By the third time, we were away from the boards, one handed and skating great. Granted, it took us quite some time to get around the rink, but she rocked it. Finally she tried by herself, only to land on her bum. But my little Lawler-in-training got right back up, didn't even bother to wipe the ice off of her pants and kept right on trying.

She now wants to take skating lessons (of course) and wants hockey skates (not regular ice skates, as she calls them). I can see her playing ice hockey. A tiny little thing on the ice, but fast as all get out. I can't wait to take her back again.