Oh, Shi....

This morning we all slept in. The Boys got home really late last night, both of them at the theatre's annual potluck. Stitch was snoozing until about nine, which is rare for him. I made bacon and eggs and turned on "Holiday on Ice" just to have playing while we ate and planned the day. Skating, cleaning, last minute errands, and then snacks, movies and cuddling for the evening.

I was cleaning up the dishes and noticed Stitch watching the skating, more intently than usual. "How long is this guy gonna skate for?"
"Well, Big League skaters' programs can be three or four minutes. You're a Small League skater, so your programs are only a minute."
"Oh."

That was that. We checked the skate bag and headed off. The crowd was really light for a holiday, and Rink Pal had on some rather lovely holiday music. Stitch practiced his routine, his three turns, and when he was getting too frustrated I told him to go play.

What happened next was so completely unexpected... Stitch stayed center and danced. I mean, danced. He was in his own little universe, for his own audience, doing his own private version of Holiday on Ice. I quickly ran for my camera, and started to quietly video it. Stitch noticed, but instead of cutting it off and getting mad, he smiled and kept going. And going. And going. Arms out, huge smile, cheeks red, hair flying, and he was just all over that center ice. He hopped, he spun, he grabbed the cones and did death spirals with them, and always finished with a flourish.

Mom is saying, "This is great!" but my Inner Realist is saying, "Oh, shit. Oh, shit."

Coach had a lesson with another student, and couldn't help but notice Stitch, dancing. The student did a spiral, much higher than Stitch can pull off. Stitch, not to be outdone, held his leg out in front of him and held his head to his knee. Coach laughed. She caught me later. "That's very unusual. Most of the girls don't get that they have to go with the music, but he's just creating..."

"Uh-huh," I'm still in a bit of shock.

Then she starts going on about being a club later on and I'm glazing over. "That's later.. " I mumble. I notice Stitch do a lunge that is really low. He's starting to understand them. Then he stands and spins. I wish Coach a Merry Christmas and off she goes.

I can see Stitch is wearing down. He should be, he'd been going nonstop for about an hour. He came off the ice, panting. "My feet are cold."

"Mine, too. Getting tired?"

"Yeah. Can we go?"

"Yes. You skated hard today."

"Yeah."

We headed to the store for some snacks, and now he's playing a video game like a normal kid. A normal kid who now has firm opinions about ice quality, stating that the Rink Across Town has much better ice than Home Rink.

Grocery Store had Rex Goliath for four bucks a bottle. I bought two.