OK, I have to confess, I may have got an inkling this week of what this ski fuss is all about... they just might make a skier of me yet.
Saturday afternoon we had a great afternoon skiing at Les Houches. All the girls had their classes there - even little Zoe - so we got to drop all the girls off at the same time and place, and it went so smoothly this time (now that I actually know who their teachers are...). And I'm proud to say both Anna and Indie moved up a level on Saturday, and they now seem to be at the right levels - Anna is now Bronze Etoile and Indra Trois Etoiles and they both love their teachers, so all is good. Meanwhile, Toby and I got to ski together for a couple of hours, and Toby gave me a ski lesson. Normally, I think husband-wife coaching is a bit of a disaster (something about not liking being told what to do??) but this one was remarkably harmonious, and I felt I improved a lot, even in that short time (I had a good teacher, clearly). It was overcast, and even snowed a bit while we were skiing, but the pistes were in great condition and not too crowded, so that helped, no doubt.
Then this morning I had my ski lesson with a ski instructor, Caroline, on the mountain just behind our house, Brevant. It was gorgeous - sunny, warm and great snow - and I think I skied better than I've ever skied before! OK, admittedly, that's not saying much, but there's such satisfaction in feeling like I'm making progress, and learning to feel more in control even when going faster. So many lists of New Year's Resolutions I've seen from people have included 'learn something new', and I would agree it's a real source of happiness. Dare I say I even had a bit of rhythm? Here's a few snapshots of my morning - I was so keen to practice more I stayed on after my lesson, had a sandwich, and kept skiing...
It's meant to be warm and sunny all week, so more practice, here I come... I really have no excuse not becoming a better skier this year.
We also fit in some x-country with the girls on Sunday. Anna's whizzing along now, she barely looked liked she'd even warmed up when we were done, and Indie was incredibly dogged - just kept picking herself up whenever she fell, and kept up with Toby and Anna. It's the perfect place to ski with the girls because it's mainly flat, perfectly pisted, and very easy to do as big, or small, a loop as you want. Zoe and I enjoyed ourselves at the back and Zoe was her usual, enthusiastic self and kept exclaiming how much she loved everything, even falling down ('it's so much fun!'). I'm helping Zoe's maternelle class go x-country skiing this Friday, which should be very cute. I asked if I should wear my skis and was told not to bother - supposedly we mainly spend our time picking the kids up and putting them back in the tracks.
Finally, in other news, Indie lost her first tooth this week! She pulled it out herself (man, had she been working that tooth for a long time) and I don't think I've ever seen anyone quite so proud. And it seems here in France it's not the tooth fairy who comes, but a tooth mouse. We're not quite sure what the mouse does with all the teeth it collects, but then, I guess we didn't really know what the tooth fairy does with them either. Building something, we guessed. It's funny, I haven't been very nostalgic about many of the passing phases of babyhood and toddlerhood - on the contrary, I've celebrated things like putting away all the baby clothes, our last child finally going into a big-girl bed and ditching the crib, no more bottles of milk in the morning, moving out of a car seat to a booster etc. etc. But there's something about losing the first tooth that really tugs at my heartstrings and makes me see how fast the girls are growing up. Sigh.
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