Snakes and Skating on a Saturday

Sophie had two birthday parties to attend today.

The first one was at the Nature Center. I don't know whose child this is with a snake around her neck. She is like me in so many ways, but I have never had a snake anywhere on my body.

Okay, get it off me!

Here is my sweet precious girl. She's caring, she's happy, she goes with the flow, she's a delight...most of the time. However, she seems to have inherited some of my not-so-fine character traits. She's a perfectionist and if she can't do something right the first time she gets really frustrated...like in tears frustrated. Sophie has had skates since last Christmas, but the most she's skated in them is back and forth across the garage...very slowly. Skating is one of those things that came naturally to some of her friends at the second birthday party. Not to my right hand/left eye dominant child. She isn't coordinated or confident enough to just go for it. This resulted in lots of falls and lots of tears. Thankfully, unlike in tennis, she didn't give up. She kept skating even with tears rolling down her face. The thing I love about blogs is that we don't usually show that side of our children. My friend commented once that my kids always seemed so happy and well behaved. "Based on what?" I asked her. "On your blog," she said. Well, of course I tend to only highlight the times when my kids are being charming or cute or clever. So in the spirit of keeping up the facade of my blog...here are the pictures of Sophie skating today (during the first 5 minutes) and having a delightful time.