AJ's Ballet Recital

Sunday was the big day of A.J.'s ballet recital.  I made sure she was as well rested as possible after the previous day of course, but that was really all I could do.  We had to be there early so that I could take pictures again... the teachers wanted class pictures.  She was excited when we got there, but as time wore on and her pictures and her time to dance came closer, she got less and less interested.

I held off her initial melt down by letting her raid the lunch I packed early and eat the potato chips.
She goes absolutely nuts for potato chips these days.

When it was time for her age group to take their photo, she absolutely refused to cooperate.

It's a real shame because she looked so completely adorable in her outfit with her hair back in a bun.

After her class was done, Matt arrived to try to cheer her up for awhile.  However, when all the dancers gathered for one final picture, with ALL the dancers, she absolutely wasn't having any of it either again.

On the plus side, her laying on her face like that kind of works in the "silly faces picture.

So it was hard to say how she would do when her class was up to perform. She'd promised Matt she would get up there and do her best, but she just seemed really out of it.  

Once the little trio of them were out there, the teachers asked them to put there arms out in their starting pose and this happened.

The other 2 stood there for a minute and didn't move.  A.J. hit her mark perfectly and beamed.  I began to think maybe it would work out alright....

Also, yes, I said trio, even though they were supposed to be a quartet.  The teacher's daughter wouldn't go out there at all.  

Anyway, after another moment the other girls joined A.J. in their starting pose.

Here we go....

See?  SO cute right?

The music started.  The teachers stood in the corner and began leading the dance.  The other girls started trying to dance.

And A.J.?  Yeah--- she just stood there.

And the music kept playing and the other girls danced, and she just kept standing there like that with her arms out....

The other did their tandus...

And their little jumps...

And A.J. just stood there some more.

The rest of the audience giggled.  I kept snapping pictures and begged her quietly to do the dance.

Finally, it seemed her arms got tired or something because at least she moved them.
Luckily, it was right as they were supposed to be sort of swaying their arms gracefully over
their heads from side to side.

I don't know.  Then A.J. sort of got goofy.  She wasn't exactly doing the routine, but it was hard to say because things with other 2 were getting interesting...

One of them fell down.

But then she popped back up.  "I'm okay!!!" she seemed to say.

Everybody swayed there arms some more.  The routine repeated a little and it was back to that part again.

But oh!  One of the flowers on the little ones tutu was suddenly falling off....

She kept swaying and didn't notice at first...

But as she did her little jump to second position, it hit the floor....

So she picked it back up.  And this seemed to confuse her.  By now the girls were supposed to
be doing little passes.   I was pleased to see A.J. finally do one, and even willingly ignored the
 fact that she wasn't even trying to point her little toes....

But then she sort of froze up again.  Not to worry because by now the whole lot of them was done.
The little one had the flower from her tutu and was giving it to her neighbor.  "Here you go!'

And so now the middle girl was all, "Oooh, pretty!'

Excuse me but... HAHAHAHAH!

The music came to an end.

The girls were supposed to be doing a little bow as the audience clapped.

Instead they did this:

A.J. covered her ears.  I think the little one was blowing kisses.  The one in the middle just stood there and looked pretty.

Oh good Lord.  

I was relieved it was over for now.  As cute as it all was, it was all I could take.

The teachers came out again to help them back off of the stage.

"That wasn't really dancing A.J.  Why didn't you dance?"

Ugh.  This from the child who jumps around like a wild child in nearly every single class she takes.

A.J. came and sat with me/on me for the rest of the show.  I hugged her when I could and kept taking pictures.  Occasionally she crawled off.  She had, apparently, decided she was going to be a dog.

Whatever.

Between shows I got her to be cute with Ms. Lynne at least.

While we waited for Matt to come back with Peter and Lucy, I also got these of her.  

I wonder who's toe shoes those are behind her on the table?

After lunch, there was a second show.  

The littlest one had gone home to take a nap.  The teacher's daughter refused to go up again and sat out.  This left just the two little girls up there.

The music started again.  The other little girl started dancing. A.J. looked right at me and decided to refuse again.

Then she covered her ears.  Again.

The music was NOT too loud.  She's just being weird.  

And probably, she's just being weird to annoy me.

Anyway, Matt had bought her a little flower and a teddy bear as congratulations.  

And... when it was all said and done, even though I know she could do better, it was okay.  She literally JUST turned 3.  And yet she got out there again, twice, in front of the audience.  So I am proud.  

WE are proud of her.

We love you our little tiny dancer girl.

A.J.'s Ballet Rehearsal

This past weekend, A.J.'s dance studio held a ballet recital.  It was a relatively low key event, allowing the dancers an extra opportunity to perform, but with basic dance outfits in place of costumes and simple little routines showcasing the things the students have been working on in class.  

I was pretty nervous for A.J.  She LOVES to dance, of course, but has been terribly, insufferably 3 years old these past few weeks.  I understand that this power struggle is a natural phase of life for her right now of course, and that we will get through it, but in the mean time, she can be completely unpredictable.  It seems like half the time in her dance lessons she doesn't want to do anything at all.  

Still, I signed her up for dance so that she could have a thing for her.  This is her thing, after all, and for now, I'm trying to give her the freedom to enjoy it (or not) as she wants to.

So, on Saturday all the performers gathered for a formal rehearsal and run through.

It was neat to be there with all the older, more experienced dancers.  I think A.J. got a thrill at seeing them dance.

I was there, of course, watching A.J. and taking pictures for the studio's blog.  In the beginning I was just snapping away as the big girls danced around for fun and warmed up but I was filled with joy when I got home that afternoon, uploaded the photos and saw this GEM.

Just look at my girl there watching the older dancers in AWE!

I love this picture so much.

Seriously.  How sweet is that?

I think it makes my whole weekend.

I also have this one of her sitting with the other little girls listening to instructions.

So sweet.

The 2 and 3 year olds.  Aren't they cute?

After this it got kind of rough.  I was busy taking pictures as the older girls practiced and I left her with the other kids and their mothers while I "worked."

Soon enough I realized she wasn't were I left her.  After a quick search, I found her:

Um, sweetheart?  Why are you in the storage closet swiffering the carpet?

Yeah.

Well, if you think that's bad, next it was time for her to dance.

Or... you know, not.  Don't the other 2 look great though?

*sigh*

My little Dance Diva was certainly having a moment.  Nice meltdown dear heart.

Not that it was entirely her fault maybe.  The poor dear was just exhausted. Matt and I had gone out to see a performance of The Nutcracker and left the kids with some friends. They had enjoyed a great time playing and making Christmas cookies and what not, but it had been a late night.

So of course, me, all fresh and mesmerized from my attendance at the ballet was having visions of her becoming a lovely professional ballerina someday and she was... just... laying on the floor.

Nobody is saying this out loud of course, but I'm fairly sure her dance teachers (who warned me these days were coming) believe her behavior right now is just what I get (deserve) for being a complete helicopter mom and stressing so much about how she behaves during class.

The best laid plans I guess.

Anyway, here's a picture of Matt and I the night before at The Nutcracker.

Peter's Preschool Christmas Program

Back on Monday, December 9th, Peter and the other 4 and 5 year olds in his Pre-K program had their Christmas Performance.

I was excited to see how he would do.  I was also pretty nervous.  Last year was not our finest moment. Also the teachers warned me that their rehearsal the Friday before had NOT gone well....

Let me just say there were a lot of prayers about it before hand.  

So first everyone dressed our munchkins in their holiday finest.  Then we dropped them off at 9:15 so they could rehearse a little bit more.  All of the parents, siblings and other guests waited outside in the lobby for them to be ready for us.  Finally at 10:00 they opened the doors and let everyone in.  

I had been, of course, camped out at the door so I was one of the first ones in.  This allowed me to get a great seat right down in front.  Lucy was being sweet and sleeping in the stroller.  A.J. was being grumpy, but Matt had taken a few hours off work to come up for it, so she was his problem.  Ha.

As I made my way to my seat, this kids were all sitting on stage looking angelic waiting for us.

Peter is there in the second row right towards the middle.  I still think it's odd that he's tall enough for the back row since he's one of the younger ones.  What am I feeding that child anyway?  Also, he's pointing to me in this picture.  :)

Soon enough the teachers stood and introduced the show.

Peter's teacher and assistant are on the left, and then I
think the lady on the right works in the afternoon class.

Looking good buddy.  I love you!

Lucy woke up right as they got started, but she stayed quiet.

Peter's teacher from last year ,who's also the program director, narrated the Christmas story.

Throughout the story, each time she would say certain words the kids would break in with little bits from songs.  For example when she mentioned the angels the kids sang "Hark the herald angels sing!" and when she said baby they all went "What child is this?'  There were more words and songs bit of course, but too many to list here.

The all looked so sweet up there.

I was so so so proud of Peter.  He did fantastic.  He did get a bit wiggly a few times, but so did a lot of the other kids.  He wasn't even close to the wiggliest of the bunch either.  What a difference a year makes.  I am so impressed with how far he's come.

Definitely feel that we made the right choice putting him in the 5-day class this year.

Handsome little devil.  :)

Meanwhile, if you're wondering....

A.J. wiggled and squirmed on her dad's lap and played a drawing app on my phone.

Just Peter's class.

Unrelated, but the girl standing on the left side of Peter (with the pink flower in her hair) is, according to him, the girl he is going to marry someday.  He LOVES her.  He says she is going to be his princess and he will be her prince.  This has been going on since last spring some time.  He still has about 47 other girlfriends mind you, but for whatever reason, he loves her the most.  :)

Oh that missing tooth....

Anyway, so after they told the Christmas story with the little song bursts, each of the 3 classes got up on their own and sang a song.  Then they all sang "Happy Birthday Jesus" together.  Then we all (the audience included) sort of sang "Jingle Bells" and "We wish you a Merry Christmas" together.

"Sort of" because the kids kept skipping the verses and just did the choruses over and over and over.

Seriously.  I didn't think they'd ever stop singing "Jingle Bells."

Haha.

Afterward I got this picture with him.

His shirt tails are hanging out and he was all spazzed out from having to stand still-ish too long and couldn't focus  enough to look at the camera and I am looking weepy, because, well, this sort of thing makes me weepy.  I cried a little during "Happy Birthday Jesus" and I have no idea why.  

Anyway, here is a little video of the song Peter's class did by themselves with little motions.  It's cute.  Enjoy!

Congratulations on a great show buddy.  You made us very proud!