Roller Girl

Shoe size 8 couldn't have come soon enough! Since Alana was born I've been waiting for her foot to grow into a size 8! Why you ask?? Because that is the smallest roller skate size they have to rent! This weekend before all of the Christmas madness came, I decided it was time to take Alana on her first rollerskating adventure! For my birthday last year she was just itty bitty and I haven't been back since! Her shoe size 8 was finally here and finally time to take her out for a roll! My friend Jamie does Roller Derby and was excited to hear I was going to take Alana out so she came to cheer Alana on. And to help me, god knows Victor and Crystal weren't getting on skates to saves their lives! All morning I had been telling Alana we were going to go skating. She was pretty excited about it and I was really surprise how much she already knew about skating. She said "mommy, will you help me skate?" ... She already knew she would need help. Apparently she's seen people rollerskating on TV or cartoons before. Does Calliou skate? In the car ride there she said she was going to put on her rollerskating shoes. Clearly she knew what she was in for! We got there and my friend Jamie was there already on her skates ready to go! She brought Alana some Rollerskating presents! How cute are these little Rollerskating hair barrettes! Jamie did a good job of getting in good with Alana for meeting her for the first time!


So, I ran over to get the smallest skate that they had and stuck them on her feet. I was a little scared that she might just not want to do it... I'm so happy to report I was scared for no reason! I put them on her, and she started walking in them. We were on carpet at first but she took to them the second they were on her.

After she was pretty comfortable on the carpet we took her onto the wood floor. Jamie held one hand and I held the other. She was up and skating!!! It was such a proud moment for me! I had grown up skating and wanting her to love it as well. She did!!

For the first time around the ring Jamie (Roller Derby Queen) tried to teach her how to bend her legs and how to keep her feet spread apart. Alana was just happy to be out rolling around. As soon as we were done with the first lap, we hit the carpet and she said, "I'll do it myself"... so we let go. Sure as hell, she did it all by herself on the carpet. Of course like any other 2 year old her favorite part was trying to play the video games and asking for quarters for the candy machines. I let her do some of that, but was ready to be out on the floor again.

Her second time out she wanted to try all by myself again. On the wood floor this time! She was very brave and I honestly wanted to cry! This made her soooo big in my eyes. She is such a big girl and I'm so proud of her! She only fell 2 or 3 times, and was so great at getting right back up and moving on. Falling didn't faze her at all. After about the 4th time around the ring, (each time taking a good 15 minutes) she was done. She said "mommy, I'm done". What more could she say? I was amazed at her for even having the guts to try it and to go as long as she did! I don't have a great picture of her smiling because I think she was concentrating on balance! I think this is one of the first times she's had to worry about balance! As we left, I promised her we would come back again, and maybe next time bring her cousins along. I am one proud mama!!