Prima Ballerina

So, I know that title is a long way from the truth at this point, but I couldn't resist. Emily started taking ballet/tap lessons seven weeks ago and she absolutely LOVES it. We are fortunate to live in a town with a very active parks and recreation department and the class is offered through them, which makes it a little more affordable. One of her friends from church is taking the same class which just doubles the fun.

The class runs in six week sessions and for the last week the parents get to come in for the last half of class and watch the kids dance. It happened to coincide with Grandma visiting from Ecuador, so she got to come watch, which was cool. We also took advantage of Grandma's prowess with the sewing machine and Emily got two new dance skirts. Next time I take pictures I need to sit on the other side of the room, so my pictures aren't so washed out. I also need to work a little on the blur factor.

I love the look of intense concentration that she has in some of these pictures. I've learned two interesting things about my little girl through this new venture. First, she really doesn't like to do things wrong. She really focuses hard on what the teacher is telling them to do. Sometimes she spends so much time trying to do it exactly right that the class will have moved on to the next step while she's still making it perfect. She'll also be paying so much attention to putting her arms in the right position that she totally forgets about her feet. It's hilariously cute. Second, if she doesn't think she can do something, she doesn't even want to try. The other little girls will be falling all over the place and she'll just stand there and say. "I can't do that". Fortunately her teacher doesn't accept that answer. The crazy thing is, I'm the exact same way. It makes me wonder, is it nature or nurture. At three years old can she really have observed me making excuses not to try things so much that she adopted it herself? I don't think so, and it's awfully interesting to think that fear of failure can be born in a person. I'll have to make sure I let her see me trying to do things and having it be ok when I can't. This parenting thing is never that straightforward is it. In the meantime, I'm having so much fun watching her dance.