That skateboarding class I have been complaining about all week turned out to have a permanent, deep, deep impression on Jee's brain.
Here's the background: I took Jee to skatecamp last week and it consumed so much of my week just getting him there and back that I didn't have time to see any of what he had learned. (Drop-off and pick-up were at a campground, not at the skate bowl.)
On Sunday afternoon, we met with a group of friends (two groups, unrelated, but both invited) at a nearby school playground and my big deal was, "I haven't seen Jee skateboard... Now I'll get to see what he learned at camp."
I was floored. He had speed, grace, and a new comfort level that didn't look much like a kid who had been on a board for only 14 days. He could do these funky swivel turns, little jumps, flips, and as he was cruising across the playground (about 50' wide, solid cement with a decent decline) he got up enough speed to do a few other tricks that I don't know the names of.
As we were leaving, I said to him, "Wow, Jake, that was amazing. I didn't know you could do all those tricks."
He looked at me with that look that says he's trying to be compassionate, but he knows I'm an idiot. In a calm, measured voice, he said: "What tricks? I didn't do any tricks. This isn't even a skate bowl. If you want to see tricks, take me to the skate bowl."
Wha..? Now I'm almost scared to take him to the skatebowl. What qualifies as a "trick" in his mind? A double-back-flip-with-a-twist? (Yes, my vocab in this area is weak.)
His instructors said they had never seen a kid pick it up so fast. Maybe I see what they mean?
