A Brave New World

Tonight, my children showed me that they are braver than I could have ever imagined!

They went roller skating for the first time!

 Josiah's AWANAs group at our church had a skate night at the local skating rink tonight.  It definitely sent me down memory lane, reminiscing about all the skating parties and events we went to growing up.  And now, tonight, I was watching my own children roller skating (and trying to do the hokey-pokey with skates on) like we used to!  I do remember being sore sometimes (more from falling rather than from using muscles in my legs or back that I'm not used to using), but I don't remember it being this exhausting!

Josiah, who is usually pretty fearful of anything new and who never tries anything by himself, went off and skated by himself almost immediately.  He didn't even want to hold my hand hardly at all the whole evening!  Rachel also ended up skating by herself quite a bit! 

 Rachel liked the music, but Josiah occasionally said it was too loud!

The smallest skate size was a child's 8 and Rachel wears a 6, but she still managed (very well, in fact)!
She even tried dancing while she was skating! 

 Peyton has always been the one to encourage Josiah through his fears and try to make him do something that he's scared of, so it probably helped that she was there.  They would call out to each other in the skating rink and try to keep up with each other!  Whenever he saw Peyton fall, Josiah would fall too (on purpose usually)... how chivalrous!  :)  It's good to have a best friend to do things with!  Thanks, Alli!  ;)

 

It's definitely been a week of growing up... we registered Josiah for Kindergarten just this past Thursday.  And now he's roller skating by himself and overcoming fears!  Rachel wants very much to, as many younger siblings do, try everything her older brother does... and she has the lack of fear/restraint and the determined "I do it" independent attitude that many 2-year-olds have.  So here I am learning to stand back a bit and let my children be independent... because I know that in just a few minutes they'll come running back wanting me for something... whether it's to wipe a tear after falling on his bottom one too many times or to hold her hand while she tries to dance to the music with skates on!