Breakthrough on the ice!
Getting J to sleep has gotten me thoroughly awake, at least briefly, so I thought I would share my jubilation:

T moved around on the ice today! Under his own power!!!

He spent the first lesson crying because his fingers had been cut by another child's ice skate coming down on them. He spent the second lesson standing on the ice like a scarecrow, arms out to the side for balance as instructed, body stiff as any board, with an expression on his face that said, "You made me stand here, on these things that are going to slice me open or make me fall down at any moment, and now you expect me to move?!!?"

And for the first little bit of today's lesson, it looked like he was going to do his scarecrow impersonation again. But then the instructor laid out plastic sticks -- one stick per child, each carefully placed over the child's initial drawn on the ice with a dry erase marker -- and another child mistakenly grabbed T's stick.

T has a healthy 4-year-old dose of possessiveness, and probably a bit more. That was his stick. He was not going to let someone else grab his stick.

So, predictably, he protested verbally, and loudly, and the other child quickly corrected his mistake. And then T started to move. Most children on the ice move slowly, carefully, each step a little timid, and still fall down a lot, at least at first. T's feet moved wildly, crazily, a danger to all around him (thankfully no one was really near him), executing some weird wild dance with all the grace and precision of a puppet whose strings are being shaken by an energetic young child. He fell down at least three times on the way to the stick. But he got up each time, and he got to the stick. He couldn't figure out how to stand up while holding the stick, but the instructor held the stick while he stood up and then handed it back to him so he could carry it back to where he'd started, as he was supposed to do.

Thanks to the accident with his fingers during the first lesson, he'd come to the attention of all the parents. They'd watch him stand stiffly through the entire lesson last week, and through the start of this week's lesson. We were all cheering T's wild dance to the plastic stick this morning.

He went on to do everything else asked of him. By the end, he was skating in a much more controlled way -- he may insist on starting the learning process with the application of energy in all directions, but he does at least catch on quickly -- and was falling much less. This morning, he was reluctant to go to the rink; at the end of the lesson, he was eager to go back tomorrow so he could show me what all he'd learned today.

The local rink is in the same building as an indoor playground for young children, which T has been begging to go to ever since he remembered a week and a half ago that the playground was up those stairs. It's $2/kid -- not something I can do every day -- but I'd told him that the first time he attempted everything the instructor asked him to do, we'd go there. He got his trip to the playground today. I have never seen a prouder, happier four-year-old anywhere. Nor, for that matter, have I ever been a prouder mama. *smile*

When I was describing this morning's lesson to my mother over the phone this afternoon, she commented that ice skating seems to be a better fit for us than soccer. It instantly struck me both that she's right, and that this is odd, since I grew up playing (and enjoying) soccer. But I've identified a number of reasons why this is so:

Superficial reasons:
- Ice skating happens in the winter, when it's either cold and wet or cold and snowy or just plain cold outside. Thus, it provides a physical outlet for energy at a time when it's hard to just send the kids out to play. Soccer happens during a time of year when the kids can get exercise informally through riding bikes, going for walks, and playing outside with friends.
- I like watching figure skating. I always enjoyed it when the figure skating portion of the Olympics was on at a time when I could watch. I have never voluntarily sat down to watch a soccer game in my life; I may have enjoyed playing it, and might still enjoy playing it if the opportunity were to arise again, but I have never enjoyed watching soccer.
- Watching soccer games usually means being outside during the hottest part of the day when the weather is quite warm -- except for those times when it means being outside during a bitterly cold rain. Watching ice skating may require an extra layer of clothing, but at least you know that beforehand, and I'd rather be a little bit chilly than too hot.
- I always liked ice skating as a child; if there had been infinite time and money, I would have loved to ice skate more myself, and am enjoying having my kids serve as an excuse for me to go ice skating now.

Real reasons:
- D has had various motor delays, probably due to the not-having-glasses-as-young-as-she-should-have issue; ice skating gives her quality professional coaching in gross motor skills. Soccer, especially in this age group, is usually coached by parents, and would not demand the same sort of precise control and skill.
- T needs the experience of working hard to learn something. This seems like a likely area to find that experience. Ice skating, at least figure skating, also puts an emphasis on doing the best you can individually; he will be called on to excel personally, and allowed/encouraged to progress as quickly as he is able to. Soccer would not be as difficult for him, and there would be more opportunity for him to blend in with the rest of the team and not be called upon to exert himself.
- My view of a family involves a heavy dose of teamwork. There have already been and will continue to be a number of areas and situations in which D and T (and eventually J, and whoever else may follow him) are required to function as part of a team, simply by virtue of being a part of this family. Thus, I do not see any strong need for them to participate in a team sport.
- I am not good at routinely coming up with situations that require large quantities of physical control or effort from the children. Ice skating does this for me.

Thus, ice skating seems like a much better fit for us, in terms of compensating for my weaknesses and addressing the children's needs, than soccer. I like being a figure skating mom; it's possible that I might at some point become a hockey mom instead or in addition, ironically for reasons having nothing to do with Palin and her popularization of hockey moms; but being a soccer mom doesn't really hold any appeal for me. That might change; we'll see; but for now, this is a good fit for us.

Newt