As in make me proud, remind me of when I used to spend hours on wheels circling the stairs in my basement as a kid wearing my fishnets and singing Madonna kind of way.
And Maya likes it in a hero-worship her sister sort of way.
Last week after Sandi's parents came to watch the girls skate, the girls found themselves decked out in their very own skates and safety gear. Just that week Ella had informed me she wanted roller skates for her birthday next month. Having already bought her birthday gifts, I simply nodded
"So I can I count on it?" she wanted to know.
Sandi bought the skates for the girls as a gift from their grandparents and brought them home as a surprise. Since Ella's were way too big we had to take them back to Target the next day. Standing in front of the selection of skates, Ella's eyes got big and she whispered to me in awe, "Can I get BLADES?"
For those of you who have not yet had your child subscribe to something simply because it is cool, let me tell you this is a strange moment as a parent. Part of me thought it was incredibly adorable that she wanted these skates she attributed to the bigger kids at the roller rink, that she felt up to the challenge of skating on something she had never even stood up in, and part of me wanted to whisk her off to the baby department and size her up for an infant bathtub and new 5 point car seat.
But alas, she is standing on the brink of her seventh birthday and who I am to stand in the way of evolution?
Or better yet, a timid child's request for a challenge?
(please forgive the slight blur to the pictures- they wouldn't let us use a flash and this post could not be done without pictures)
So now Ella is a BLADER. She puts on her BLADES. She goes BLADING. I called them roller blades once and she quickly corrected me. "They are blades, Mom."
How did I become uncool so fast?
When we first brought the blades home and were lacing them up for the very first time, Ella said, "I bet Santa is SO happy right now."
Confused about the nonsequitur, I stupidly asked, "Why?"
"Because Santa watches everything I do and I bet he is SO excited to see me get my blades!"
(At which point I realized that this is how some people think about God and, while this will not send me running to my nearest house of worship, perhaps it is time for some talk about global spirituality to replace the all-seeing eye of Santa in Ella's understanding of a higher power.)
The bottom line is she is over-the-top happy. And the blades have corrected the funny skating form she had adopted of keeping one leg stable on moving the other one in and out in a curve.
Monkey see, monkey do:
The girls have got it all going on, including chomping gum by the gumball machine. They shared quarters and dyed sugar and even perfected the hand on the hip, I'm-too-cool-for-words pose.
Sandi always takes a study break to come watch the girls during their one hour Saturday kid's skate. We stand and drink coffee and wonder how it ever came to be that we go on a date at the local roller rink.
Now that our girls are so super cool, I think Sandi and I should practice wearing out of style jeans, orange lipstick and maybe even go to school drop-off in our bathrobes since it is only a matter of time before our kids start making fun of us.
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