My Ballerina and Her Brother

My baby girl had dance class tonight. She's taking ballet and tap. She took a little bit of ballet when we were in Germany, and was so excited to be able to take it again when we got here. I think I blogged about this when she first started dance, but I was excited too. The lady she's taking dance from is the same lady I took tap and jazz from when I was a kid. I was tickled to be able to give my girl the same opportunity I had...she's a wonderful teacher and loves what she does.

Tonight A was dancing around the family room, practicing some of her ballet moves. I'm seeing a HUGE difference in the way she's moving. She's becoming so much more graceful and is really "getting" the flow of movement. I'm so proud of her, and can't wait till her recital in June. She loves ballet, but tap is more of a challenge for her. I wanted her to try it this year because I figured it would be a really good experience for her. Plus, it was my favorite. My thought is that it's better that they try different things and decide then whether they like it or not. We did the same thing with J and basketball this year. He was hesitant to try, but I pushed him a bit, and he ended up LOVING it. But now that A has had the experience, I think I'll let her decide whether she wants to continue tap next year. Maybe I'll encourage her to try jazz next year if she chooses not to take tap.

J was watching her practice and decided that watching her practice made him an expert. So he got up and tried to mimick her.

J - How's this Mom?
Me - Nice try, baby, but you're not so graceful.
J - (Giggling) What about now?
Me - Honey, I don't think ballet's quite your thing...but that's ok (the hubby is listening to this exchange and I think he was a bit relieved...lol).
J - (watching A do a split and deciding he wants to try one too) Aaaggghhhhhhhh!
Me - Yeah, Sweetie, that's why boys aren't really naturally made to do splits.