DeLappenings: And...Chica’s Return to Ballet!

Oh, my. Stinking. Goodness.

We just had the most wonderful, fantastic, enthusiastic, triumphant return to dance class for Chica tonight—so now I’m two for two with the happy ballerinas and I couldn’t be more thrilled! (And neither could my girlies.)

So...a quick review of Chica’s 2017 dance misadventures:

She started kindergarten.

And was tired. Oh so tired, after school.

And had to take an after-school dance class for the first time (instead of mid-morning when she was Pre-K).

With nobody she knew (after two years of lots o’ dance class buddies).

With a class full of girlies who all knew each other (but not her).

And a class full of girlies who were mostly a year older than her.

And a class that was an hour instead of 45 minutes.

I mean...talk about a perfect storm of negatives totally working against us.

She was so ever-loving tired and emotional about the whole process (as I blogged about a bunch last Fall) that by the time our season of continual sick-ick really hit in late October, I just gave up the good fight and let her stop. Even though I knew she stilled loved to dance. Because her emotional stability and downtime was vastly more important.

Now.

Fast forward nearly a year and for some reason, I just didn’t want to give up.

Because, again, my eldest loves to dance, loves dance costumes, loves music, just loves everything about the whole shebang when all the stars align.

So I planned and I plotted and I thought long and hard, and the perfect situation presented itself.

An evening class (ooooh, she gets to stay up a little late), with five and six-year-olds (ooooh, she isn’t the youngest), that I get to take her to while brother and sissy stay home to bathe with daddy (ooooh, she feels mature and special to miss bath time), and then come home and shower on her own (again, with the ooooh, she feels special).

I mean, if that perfect storm of amazeballs-ness wasn’t enough to entice her, nothing would be, ha.

But I’m pretty sure these after-class pictures will tel you how it went.

She was happy.

And silly (her new state of being from 6:30-8:30 pm.)

And enthusiastic about her new friend she made in class.

It was a perfect, low-key, happy environment, with a teacher she knows, and there will probably be four girls total in the class (fun and intimate), so she was seriously pumped. And so was I.

I mean, it is seriously a full-time job to try and foster positive activities and friendships and interests for my young trio of nuggets, and I constantly worry about getting it right.

I know we’ll have a bunch of missteps as they age (and one dance class does not classify as an unqualified success for an entire school year, ha), but we’re doing our best. And there have been lots of smiles this week as we dive headfirst into new beginnings.

So...yay for a happy kickoff, and here’s to positive vibes for the good to continue.