Tiny Dancer
By the time G was 2 he'd already been in swim lessons and soccer. David didn't do the swim lessons because while they taught G how to swim, I just felt like it was a bit too boot camp like and that wasn't really necessary. I bowed to the pressure of my friends that he had to be able to swim and put him in the life saving classes. Which work. They really do. By two years old he could jump in a pool, float on his back, swim to the side, and climb out. 15min a day every day for 6-8wks gets this result. It's pretty incredible.
But.
Swimming became work. The following year he never wanted to go to the pool. He only wanted to splash around in the backyard. Which was fine, D was one.
But.
So I decided D would skip those swim lessons (I mean we don't live on a lake or have a pool and floats are my friend). So the only extracurricular that D had/has is soccer. J had none.
So score card ... G = 3, D = 1, J = 0.
Enter mom guilt.
But with those 4 things I can't add one more thing to our week nights and maintain my sanity or the kids equilibrium and homework schedules.
Enter the after school prek options. They are small. They aren't super structured or rigorous.
But.
They check the box. And they fill the hour between prek pick-up and elementary pick-up.
So yesterday was J's first day of dance....
She kept waving at me and David as we watched from the edge of the room.
Fifth position she got easily. Her tummy sticking out kills me.
First and fifth positions.
Her looking at her feet to get them into first position was adorable. She followed directions pretty epically for a kid who'd never done anything like that before. She couldn't figure out first hand position (hold your watermelon). Every time she said "hold your watermelon" Julia put her hands to her mouth and pretend she was eating it. I about died.
Arabesque.
When we left she said mama I want to dance some more! And I asked if she wanted to go back next week and she said yes.
She'll be doing the cutesy prek soccer too. That'll be interesting. When I started D at this age we did one class and I dropped him out. Just too young. He wasn't ready (or willing). We tried in the spring. He did better.
Getting him to participate without tears is still something we battle through. But Stacy? Why put him in something that he's crying through? Well because he says he wants to play. But his sportsmanship is what's at issue. And I decided that I wasn't doing him any favors if he quit before he learned some manners (like how to lose, or have a ball stolen, or not to cry when he didn't score). And I think I mentioned in this space before I think there is some sibling issue at play too. But last week went great with the reward system so we'll just keep rocking that.
Anyway. So we'll see if Julia likes it. I feel like she will. As she loves soccer and dribbling. We shall see.
Comments