It's All About Hockey, Baby!

So we have ventured forward into the alternate reality I'll call hockey from here on out. I'm not certain how familiar ya'll are with this reality, so I'll help you out as best as possible. I've talked about wanting to get Sandis enrolled in hockey before, so the response from the SCYHA that he was approved for a scholarship was awesome indeed. From there we ventured out into hockey, and first step is? Obtain hockey gear. We bought a new pair of skates (new to us anyhow) that fit and acquired all that hockey gear.

All.That.Hockey.Gear. This presented a slight problem. Sandis barely tolerated trying the helmet on, and our hockey situation quickly devolved into a squeaking, screaming, sirening Sandis the longer the helmet stayed affixed upon his head. I devised a plan.....Desensitize the boy to the gear (the helmet, all that velcro, and poking) by foricng him to wear the gear for an hour a night.. We successfully accomplished this by none other than bribery...Video games!



Imagine my surprise when after all that bribery and malcontent on mister Sandis's part, I discover after affixing the mouth guard on the helmet, that herein lies the solution. Sandis sets the mouthguard in his mouth and there goes all the complaints. It is like a chewy tube that forms to the shape of your mouth. Fabulous. The people that created these things were smart buggers indeed.





So this afternoon we ventured out onto the ice. Skating is HARD.













And then, sometimes THEY make it HARDER.





But you know what, after a while things started to come together.











I watched in shock, at times...Is that my boy WAITING IN LINE?





Here is proof of the benefits of inclusion. Sandis is doing what all the other kids are doing. He is just another one of the boys.





There was even a few opportunities for one-one-one coaching.



At the end of the day, Sandis and Hockey, well they were two peas in a pod.