A series of moments

In some ways, this parenting column allows me to record my daughter's development and rail away at those things related to child-rearing that irk me on a regular basis.

But the holidays and all the good time we got in as a family has filled me with the warm glow of satisfaction and frankly, I can't think of a single person to mock.

My wife and I took our daughter out skating for the first time at the Ovide Park skating rink near our home, and frankly, it could not have turned out better.

The weather was gorgeous, the ice smooth and flat and it was just cold enough to keep the ice frozen. My daughter's new skates (new to her, actually; $25 goes a long way at Play it Again Sports) fit perfectly and she actually enjoyed skating.

Or rather, she enjoyed me pulling her around the rink and helping her stay up as I skate backwards in front of her. "I'm skating, mommy, I'm skating," she shrieked joyfully at my wife, watching from the snowbank.

Even as I write the words, I'm remembering the moment, and it still makes me flush with pride and satisfaction.

It was worth driving out in a snowstorm to get the skates and helmet, and then going back to the store to get my skates sharpened as well. It was worth the headache of telling her that she had to wear snowpants to go skating. It was worth the headache of pulling on boots under those same snowpants and it was worth all the times she has told us that she wants to go live on another planet to escape our draconian brush-your-teeth-before-bed rules.

I immediately started looking for more moments, but the reality is that the harder you look for them, the further and further apart they seem to be. The beauty in the day-to-day moments is there also, but you've got to be there to see them. Case in point: my wife went to visit her parents and left the two of us at home to just hang out. My daughter asked me if I wanted to play dollies with her and I said 'sure.' My daughter, however, knowing her father is a bit of a silly fellow, paused on her way upstairs to get her Barbies, placed on hand on her hip and used the other to wag at me condescendingly. 'You have to play the way I say,' she sang, punctuating each word with a finger wag.

She knows her father too well, and I get a big laugh every time I picture it in my mind.