Ice Skating & Ball Pit with Olivia & Kiana

So after a few weeks in the Formal Ice Skating class we decided to check out the open skate for Special Skater's on Friday Night.  This is much more informal, and much less crowded.  Holly;s first two Ice Skating classes were great, but the classes can have up to 12 kids each, and on another week there was 6 kids which left Holly on the Wall by herself most of the time because they kids can't use buckets during the Lesson portion of the class.  The Friday class is also a place where several of our other friends could attend.  On this night Olivia and Kiana did a drop in.  Its been a month and Olivia is still too scared to get onto the ice, but she is getting exposure and now at least says she will go on when she is "this" tall.  Kiana actually learned to skate in about 10 minutes because she has wheely shoes and already knows how to glide.  She isn't skating correctly but she is gliding across the ice foot in front of foot and can go fast.  This makes Holly jealous, as she doesn't know how to go that fast yet.

The Open skate is also only about 3$ a week and a lot of fun, less structure, and lots of practice time.  It only has special skaters, here is our new friend Bella.  The formal lesson is very crowded and about 20$ a week.  Kiana had so much fun that they signed up.  And this January Citlali, and Anna will be attending too.  So it will be a lot of fun for Holly to have her friends there with her.

After skating we decided to take the girls to Public Market for Dinner.  Mostly playing.  They enjoyed the Ball Pit, and the Chalk Wall, I think Holly missed seeing her friends regularly after spending so much time together over the summer.  It's not daily, but once a week is really nice.

Holly is making a lot of progress too, but it comes in waves, she totally can skate now, and doesn't need the bucket, but she is super slow.  With the bucket or walker she can zoom across the ice and go fast.  It is also like a safety net for her anxiety as you don;t get an assigned adult instructor during the open session.  There is the amazing 12 year old Boy Josh who has become her mentor and now buddies with her every week.  This keeps her off the bucket and he holds her hands and gives her games and challenges to play, it is heart warming.  But the week he was absent she reverted back to the bucket for security,