jan schill photography :blog:

maybe it’s just me, but i imagine that every mom of a little girl imagines a day when that little girl will want to go to dance class-specifically ballet!  and that little girl will have on tights & a leotard, she’ll have her hair pulled back neatly and be wearing darling, tiny pink slippers.  so, when livi started talking about wanting to go to ballet i was thrilled!  probably more than thrilled!

so we enrolled her in dance for the summer, ballet & creative dance for preschoolers.  i was excited for her & nervous.   for the most part we’ve always done mommy & me type classes up until now- i started taking her to mommy & me swimming at 6-months-old.  and she’s not in school yet, so she’s not accustomed to very much structure without guidance from a parent.

she got all dressed up in her black tights and pink leotard, and let me put her hair up in a ponytail and barrett’s.  she was so excited that she couldn’t wait to put her slippers on!  so, they opened the door and she went right in-ok so far!  they started class and she sort of participated, but mostly wanted to chat with everyone-she is so my daughter!  then, after a few times of lining up she completely lost focus.  she started running around like the little wild three-year-old that she is.  when her instructors sweetly asked her not to run she did what most kiddos would do, she looked at herself in the mirror and cried!  she felt sorry for herself for a while, and then came out to me.  i tried coaxing her back into the class, but she wouldn’t make it any further than sitting next to me watching everyone else in the class.  she said she’d like to try again next week.  i was proud of her nonetheless, it was a big milestone in my book!

her teachers were very encouraging and positive about the livi going back to class to try again, i really appreciated that!  i’ll let you know how the rest of her classes go!