First Hockey Practice and First Smile!!

It's a big day in our house! Connor had his first hockey practice today. All in all it went pretty well. Connor's skating skills previously have consisted of shuffling around in his skates on the ice, and when he took skating lessons last winter, he wasn't always interested in participating, and could often be found laying down on the ice. So, I would say today was an improvement. At first it was mass carnage out there. Everyone was falling down left and right, and the funniest thing was watching them try to pick up their hockey sticks with the big gloves on. Eventually Connor figured out that you don't drop your stick when you fall down, and he could get up a lot quicker. He had pretty good stamina for most of the practice, and seemed to be doing better about gliding a little more and shuffling a little less. He fell down a lot, but didn't really complain too much, though he said he hit his head at some point and complained that it hurt. The best part was that he participated throughout the practice and kept on getting up when he fell down. The coaches did a good job of having fun with them too, and Connor's favorite part was getting to play freeze tag and chasing the coaches. I'm sure his skating abilities will improve dramatically over the next few weeks and months. It sure is a lot of work getting all the gear together and on though! I'm glad Jeff's around to do that, and am hoping there aren't too many times when I will have to do it alone and bring the baby too!

Here are some photos of our first day at hockey practice:

Getting ready with Porter, and with Kyle our friend below:

Listening to the coaches:

Getting up from a fall (action shot):
The next Gretzky:


His cool Land O Frost sponsored jersey:


Porter all bundled up taking a bottle in the arena:


Earlier this morning Porter gave a few small smiles to Mommy! It was so sweet. Mostly we have just had the smiling in his sleep smiles, but I think he is starting to connect and make it happen when he's awake and alert. I am going to try to capture some on film, so we'll see if I can succeed. He is one month old today!