Let's Go Skating...then again

I decided to take Big Dog ice skating. No, I do not ice skate. We had been watching ice skating at Grandma and Grandpa's and my sweet boy turned to me and said, "I want to do that mommy" How do you refuse? "You want to ice skate?" I asked. "Yes" he said "I want to do that with you" So it had to happen. When the sweet voice of a preschooler asks you to ice skate, it is impossible to turn him down. I have never ice skated. Actually, I have never successfully ice skated. I tried once, fell down a lot and gave up. Why I thought I'd be fit to take a child on the ice is beyond me. I invited our sitter to come along and watch Little Dog while Big Dog and I tried our skates out. She has skated before, actually did a lot of it as a child. If worse came to worst and I was too clumsy on ice to take him out, she could help him out. It never even came to that. We arrived at the ice rink, rented our skates, suited up and teetered to the ice. Big Dog stepped into the rink and slipped, I caught him and set him back on his feet before he fell, but that was enough. He was done. I tried to get him to give it a try, I got on the ice and helped him stay upright despite his best efforts to return to the safety of the padded floors. After a few minutes, I gave in and went back to the seating where our sitter was watching...and laughing. She decided to take a spin on the ice to show him how fun it was. After one lap around the rink she checked in. Was he going to join her, hell no. But he did demand that she skate again and praised for for being a "very good skater!". One other highlight of the trip was meeting a chatty 5 year-old at the next table. He could burp the alphabet. He likes pizza. He has his Christmas tree up already. Did I mention he could burp the alphabet? When our sitter returned from her third lap around the rink, she sat down with us for a bit. Big Dog asked her to do one more for him. She replied that she needed to rest and commented to me "A little ice skating shows how out of shape I am" to which our friendly 5 year-old piped in "maybe you should go to a gym...you know...get more exercise" Nice kid. I'd hate to meet his parents.