Let's play hockey!

I can only wonder if the excitement level in the locker room of the 1980 U.S. Olympic hockey team was anything close to the excitement shown in my kitchen last night as AJ geared up for his first hockey practice.

The pads. The gloves. The jersey. Suddenly it was all so real. Those endless games in the driveway and the basement all lead up to this moment. (With the key difference that those other games didn't involve skates.)

I missed much of the excitement because I'd fallen asleep while trying to get Sydney to take a nap. Jeff said it was particularly humorous watching AJ after he'd strapped on that particular piece of equipment designed to protect a particular part of the male anatomy. AJ ran around the house announcing, "This will keep my pee-pee safe."

By the time I woke up, they'd moved on to more mundane lessons like how to hold a hockey stick.

It can be tough to figure these things out. Especially when you're so excited you can barely stand still.

And then they were off.

"I got to play hockey where Daddy played hockey," AJ announced when they returned. (The practices currently are held at the same arena where Jeff played in a tournament a couple weeks ago.)

AJ was pretty excited about his first hour on the ice. Jeff said he did well. The lone problem came after practice, when AJ realized just how cold his feet were. There were a few tears, I'm told, as the shoes replaced the skates, and blood started pumping again to those outer extremities.

A note to AJ: if it's any consolation, I'll bet Daddy's toes will be just as cold next Tuesday. That's when he's been volunteered to help flood the rink in Esko.

Yes, we're hockey parents now. But as long as AJ is having this much fun, it's a pretty cool thing to be.