Dance..

...is also stressful, but in a different way.  It's stressful in less of an I-don't-want-my-kid-to-feel-bad-way, and more of an I'm-a-crazy-dance-mom way.  I watched a few seasons of Toddlers and Tiara's and found myself acting like those moms a little more than I wanted to admit.  I was ashamed of myself.

First, the nice thing about dance is that at this age, 3-5 year-olds, it's just bad and everyone knows it, but it's adorable bad.  The audience just laughs together over the little things kids do, and the kids laugh at themselves and ham it up a bit.  The teachers stand at the side of the stage and do the entire dance as the kids watch and maybe throw in a step here and there.  Alice's favorite part was when the doggy in the window shook his tail and she got to shake hers.  When the recital came around, she added a few extra shakes because she liked it so much.  But I didn't have to worry about Alice losing points or not getting on base like in other sports.  She was just having fun and the audience had fun right along with her.  And I liked that.  Everyone just gets a chance to show what they learned throughout the year.  More like a portfolio than a high-stakes test...I mean game...I mean I've taken a lot of education classes.  

The bad thing about dance: the costumes and hair.  I remember dancing as a little girl and loving getting my hair done and getting to put make up on, so I made sure to do the same for Alice.  But then she started acting like a 4-year-old and Henry started acting like a 2-year-old and I was holding our spot in line to check in and most of the parent volunteers were late so I just stood there and yelled at Alice to get off the floor because you'll get your tights dirty and stop dragging your feet because you'll get your shoes dirty, and stop touching your hair, and and and I looked at the line behind me of all the parents and their froo-froo girls and realized I was in an episode of Toddlers and Tiaras and wondered what I had done to my poor girl.  Luckily, Alice has never seen the show and said she loved the recital and is considering another year of dance, although she also wants to try out gymnastics.  We'll see what the fall brings and how well I can hold my crazy in.

On her spot in class

Dancing in class

Super excited while driving to dress rehearsal

Alice is the 2nd from the left--wagging her doggy tail.

After the recital.  She had a great time and just loves the dozen red roses that Greg got for her because they match her costume.  Although she did notice that some girls got two things of flowers and she only got one.  We pointed out that she got 12 flowers in her one thing and the other girls only got a few flowers in each of their bouquets.  I don't know if she bought it or not, but she does love her roses.

Here are a few snipets from her rehearsal (we weren't allowed to take video/pictures during the actual recital).  Alice is the 2nd from the left.