Ballerina Girl

Parker took her first ballet class this week. She's been taking tumbling since last fall, but the thrill was gone and I could tell she was bored of the same old stuff every week. She had to be 2.5 before she could start ballet, and since the summer session is much more relaxed than during the school year, I asked her if she'd be interested in trying ballet for awhile. She was so excited to try ballet, she could hardly contain herself. Her grandparents bought her first pair of ballet shoes while we were in Denver. They are so tiny and perfect I am going to keep them forever. I'd bought her a leotard on clearance at Target a few months earlier, just because, and it came in handy. Here she is getting ready to go to class.

Even though it's in a ballet studio (at the same gym where she takes tumbling), the class is called Magical Movers or something like that because ballet is clearly beyond their little selves. I was worried she'd walk into a class of kids that had taken the class for the last many months, but thankfully all the other girls seem to be very young and don't know what they're doing either.

It was dreadfully cute to watch. These tiny little butts in their tiny little leotards with tiny little skirts and new ballet shoes. I sat on the bench on the other side of the glass wall and just beamed because it was just so.damn.CUTE! At first the girls were taken and sat down while attendance was called. They were supposed to raise their hand when they heard their name called, except no one knew what that meant. They stretched, marched in a circle holding hands, and learned how to point their toes. I think the most "ballet" thing they did was plies, but even though they were called plies, I'm sure it went over most of the girls' heads. They also got to beat a drum, walk on their tiptoes and pretend to be fairies. Not a bad way to spend a morning in all. Parker pronounced it to be "much fun!" and neither of us can wait to go back this week.

There were two girls in class that would have been Parker had she not gone to MDO this year. One girl cried the entire time and did not do one thing. Her grandmother tried in vain to get her to do something, even joining in the class herself, but the girl was beside herself. I felt awful for the girl, but also for the teachers who had to shout over her cries for half an hour. The other girl didn't cry but she wouldn't do much other than sit on her mom's lap in the studio. It was nice for me to see other kids act that way because that is exactly how Parker was before starting MDO. She grew so much this year in "school" and I am so proud of the big girl she is growing up to be. In fact, in just about 3 months my girl will be 3. Say it isn't so!