Discrimination at it's finest

I knew Faith would have to deal with some form of discrimination as she wants to play a sport that is predominately played by males. I just wasn't expecting to hit that attitude so early on.

I'm not fond of the hockey director here at all. To be honest, I don't think he really wants Faith to play, just by the little things he throws into conversations. The other day we were there, I was with all 3 kids, and I had to ask him a question about something. As we were leaving he started talking to Elijah saying he has to get his mama a rule book so I can start reading it to him. HELLO...you KNOW both my daughters want to play, 1 of which is getting ready to play, so why would you not make that comment to all 3, just the 6 month old boy? Plus, he completely discredited the fact that I may just know a thing or two about hockey, and that as we watch games I explain different rules to them.

Because, you know, I am a woman, so I guess that means I don't know anything.

Sigh.

It's frustrating.

It's also the tone he has been using with me regarding Faith playing this October. "Well, are you SURE she is going to listen", "She does know that you won't be on the ice with her, doesn't she", "she DID throw a fit the last time I tried to take her out"

Yup, just 3 of the comments I heard from him just yesterday. It's always like that.

Just because she won't talk to someone doesn't mean she can't take direction. She has been with her learn to skate coach for 8 weeks...Faith has talked to her once. She always listens and does as she is asked, she just won't talk to her. Faith is really uncomfortable with one-on-one conversations with adults, especially when there are no other children around. I explained that to him and how she acts with the Learn to Skate coach.

Regarding the second comment, I seriously just wanted to deck him for that one. Yes, thank you genius. I don't go out with her now, why would it be any different? I go out on the ice with her on Saturday's during the open session skate, but she has been skating since January and I have never gone out on the ice with her during her lessons.

And regarding the fit she threw...that was almost a year ago. She was new to skating and she didn't know him and it was just Faith and the hockey coach. And what she did was not throw a fit, but she was scared and didn't want to go with him. She wouldn't let go of my leg. When there are other children around she is much more comfortable.

Do I know if she will do well? Just pop out on the ice without a moment of hesitation. No, of course not. But I'm not going to let her not try just because she may not do well. I'm not going to let her just hide away at home because she is afraid of new experiences. I think she will be hesitant, she is now even with her Learn to Skate, but I think she will do just fine. Only time will tell.

Getting ready for hockey

It has been a crazy time in our household lately and I just haven't been able to get on and blog, as much as I wanted to. There have been other things I have had to take care of and writing on here was pretty low on the totem pole. I think things are coming back around now though.

Since last Saturday Elijah completely stopped sleeping through the night. We kept hoping it would get better, but Chris and I were only getting a couple of hours of sleep a night. We were worn out! If finally hit me the other day that both the girl went through this as well right at the 6-7 month mark. In don't know if it is just my children, but so far we are 3 for 3. At this time all of them needed their own spaces to sleep, as they were always in my room at first. It's at this age that all of them have realized that the bed they see from their crib has mama in it and if I whine she will come and get me. So every time they all would just stand there in their crib, looking at me sleeping, and whine until I finally woke up.

So, Elijah is now in the closet. Ok, sounds worse than it is really. Chris's office was in the closet so it isn't too bad. We moved him out into our bedroom and moved Elijah's crib in. And guess what happened on the very first night of our new arrangement. He slept! He woke up at 5:30 am and was mad he couldn't find his pacifier. I found one for him and he laid right back down and fell back asleep. Ah the sleep was nice!

There is just no stopping the boy now. He crawls everywhere. He is now pulling up to standing on his own as well. Such a strong little boy! He has his second tooth that I officially called as through on Thursday.

One of the things I have been working on these past few weeks is getting Faith ready to start hockey. When I first wrote down everything we needed, then looked on the web for the costs of everything I just about had a heart attack and was wondering if she would really be able to play. Through lots of research though I was able to find some great deals. For instance, a new helmet would have cost $75.00 and the youth face cage that goes on it would have been another 17. I was able to get one on ebay w/ the cage for $18.50. Needless to say, I'm breathing much better now. It's been a little hard to find her size though because she is so skinny. The next big item are skates. We are going over to the rink today to go through some things the coach has to see if there are any her size. If not, the guy at the proshop said the skates we tried on her will be going on sale this week. Hopefully we will be able to get some from the coach since she will outgrow them so quickly.

I have also had to do research to find everything pink that I could. Needless to say, pink is quite the difficult color to find in the hockey world. We have gotten a few things though: Pink hockey socks, pink tape, pink laces. I got white gloves and I'm going to try dying them pink using some acid dye. Fingers crossed that will work! Once she gets her helmet in she fully plans on sprucing it up girlie style with some butterfly stickers.

It's quite funny to see how she wants to play such a male dominated sport yet still stay her pretty princess self. I love it! I don't think it will be hard at all to point her out on the ice! Once we have all of her gear we will definitely be taking pictures and putting them up here.

Every Saturday I take Faith to the rink for the free skate and go out on the ice with her. It is such a great time we have together. We have been doing this for a few months now and every single time it never fails that someone will ask how old she is. When I tell them she is 3 they are just beside themselves that she skates so good. I'm not exaggerating either. Every. Single. Saturday.

We were going to wait until January to start Samantha, closer to her 3rd birthday. But she is itching so bad to get out there and skate too. So...she will also be starting here in a few weeks when the next sessions start. She is so excited. Once she is able to skate on her own then she will be coming with us on Saturday as well.

So, I guess that is that. Posting a few pictures now that I have finally taken them off of the camera!

Samantha loving on baby bruder


One Sunday after church


Trying to play with sissy


He always wants to climb on top of things and then gets really mad when he can't get down


He followed me into the bathroom.