Ballet!

Livie has been obsessed with ballet for several months now. She's always loved dancing and dances multiple times a day. Of course I love it! She has such imagination!

She got hooked on Angelina Ballerina and decided ballet was the supreme art form. Every time she'd dance she'd proclaim she was doing ballet. She would call me from whatever I was doing to watch her living room dance recital and demand a rigorous round of applause upon bowing after a moving dance performance. 

Then we attended some dance recitals for her cousins this past winter and she began pleading that she be in a dance class like them. This summer I asked her if she still wanted a ballet class and she excitedly told me yes! I told her I'd look into it. And so, after doing some research and talking to a friend who's daughter was in ballet, we got her signed up. 

To say she was excited is an understatement! I earned extra mommy-is-awesome points when I told her she was going to take a ballet class. She had to wait five whole days after signing up before she could go and every day of waiting was excruciating for her. :) To pass the waiting time we would look up videos of Ballets on YouTube and she would watch them. 

When the big day finally came, she was confused why she had to go to school because it was a ballet day. She thought she got to spend all day at her ballet class. 

Now after each class period she asks me if can come back to ballet the next day and the next day and the next day. She pretty much believes it's the best thing ever! 

She smiles the entire time and gushes about how much she loves ballet all the way to and home from the studio. 

I neither expect nor hope that my daughter will someday become a prima ballerina in a world famous ballet. I am not starting her in a ballet class this early in her life because that's the only way to ensure she'll get the best training, have the best chance. In fact, I struggled with the idea of doing anything this young. Why? 

Because she's still a baby in my eyes. Because every moment of growing like this, of advancing and learning and obviously getting older, means she's that much closer to being completely grown up. I already know I'm going to blink and she'll be a teenager; I'm trying so hard not to blink. I don't want to make her older before her time. I just want to enjoy every stage without worrying about the next one. I never want to be a "I-can't-wait-until-the-next-stage" mother because I want her to soak up all life has to offer at whatever age she is in. I want her to learn contentment and joy. And I figure the best way to teach is to live.

I know I over think things sometimes but I also didn't want her {or myself} to fall prey to the ever-growing ideal that a child specialize in his career before he can even spell his name. And I think it can be tempting to fall into that trap when you begin any kind of specialized training as a child. {And this is specialized. They only teach ballet at this studio.}

So I'm not pushing her and almost told her to wait at least one more year before starting dance lessons. I finally relented because she loved it so much and kept asking to "please take a ballet class".

And I'm glad I gave in. 

Because you know what? The light in her eyes every time she puts on her leotard and prances about that dance studio shows me that she is still a beautiful little girl just enjoying every minute of her beautiful little life. She's soaking it all up and making it all fun. She has no aspirations to become a ballerina when she grows up. She's showing me that she's doing just fine with still being four.  

And that's a blessing to me.