Tiny Dancer

Bella wants to be a ballerina.  She has loved to dance for as long as I can remember.  She would bounce up and down in her baby Bumbo seat at four months old whenever there was a song on the radio.  Daddy has long since been having “dance parties'” with the kids, and they’ve invented moves I thought could only be acquired after many months of training… or at least MTV watching (this was not the case for us).  So, I don’t know why I was so surprised when she announced to me that she wanted to learn how to be a ballerina after watching “Barbie Nutcracker” one morning on vacation.  And as the days went by, her little wish didn’t fizzle out like most two-year old wishes tend to do either.  Instead, she began to hone her spinning and leaping skills with practice around the house and a mini lesson from my friend’s dancer daughter.

With so much going on in our world of therapies and preschools and internship, I never thought that I would squeeze in swim lessons for all three kids (more on that to come) and a sports class for Gabe (that too), and dance class for Bella, but I did it.  And I’ll keep doing it too, even if it drains me completely :).  Because I love them.  And because the looks of sheer joy on Ari’s face when she realizes that, yes, she is included in the group lesson at swim without mom or dad, or when Bella looked at herself in the mirror for the first time in her dancewear, or when Gabe leveled up in swim lessons and got to ring the bell (twice) make it all SO worth it.  So SO worth it.

 

This was Bella’s first time in tap shoes ever.  And she joined the class three weeks after the other girls did.  It didn’t slow her down. 

 

Trust me, I tried so hard to get her to wear her helper hand to dance class, but she told me it was sweaty and that it hurt.  She pitched in the car. I begged and pleaded, but I would not force her on this one. Dance class is her special time, and I didn’t want to ruin it.  On that subject, Bella has been doing this a lot lately.  She’ll pretty much only wear it if we’re playing at home, which is why there are hardly any pictures of her in it.  I’m hoping she’ll get more comfortable with it as she gets older and stronger.

 

Gabe and Ari adored watching Bella.  It was as if they thought it was her final recital!  Ari was grinning, waving, and clapping for Bella from behind our one-way mirror, and when Bella came out on break to change into her ballet shoes, Gabe was just so proud that he gave her a full-on spontaneous bear hug in front of everyone.  It was so endearing and tender.

 

I’m no prima ballerina, but I thought she looked pretty darn good to me!  I, for one, have no clue where she got her grace from.

Second position Plie.  Retire.

 

Little sweet danced.  Her classmates watched at first.

  

Then they joined in.

     

I can’t wait till next Thursday!