Dance class, Take 2

Saturday was Rebecca's second week of dance classes. After last week's experience, I had no idea what to expect. All week, I'd mention it to her now and then, and sometimes she would say, "Noooooooooooo!" and other times, she was agreeable to the idea of dance class. Friday night and Saturday morning though, I was starting to feel like it was not going to happen. Since part of the problem had been that she wanted to cling to me last week, I thought that if Ramy went with us, things might be better. Fortunately, he was happy to do so, and indeed it was a good plan.

There's something about just putting the tights and leotard on that gets Rebecca into the dance mood. As soon as we put them on her at home yesterday morning, she was spinning around the living room. She was also happy to put her running shoes on with her leotard and to show us how her running shoes make her a fast runner.

We got to the dance studio, and there were several other little girls playing in the room next to Rebecca's class. After we got her ballet shoes on, Rebecca went right in and started playing with them.





She was a bit reluctant to leave that room to go to her room though, and she started to get anxious. Ramy went in with her and got her settled. Once she got involved in the stretching exercises, all was fine and he was able to slip out of the classroom. We watched on the closed-captioned monitors in the front of the studio, and she did great the whole time they did ballet. She was listening and paying attention, standing on her star, pirouetting when she was supposed to do so. When it was time for them to change into their tap shoes, I was there waiting for her when the door opened, and she grinned at me when she saw me and said, "Hi Mama!" We got her tap shoes on and she went back into the classroom alone without any problems. Just when I was thinking that the day had been a total success, I see on the monitor that Rebecca isn't participating. Then they started running in place in their tap shoes, which was a very loud noise, and Rebecca started crying. Miss Diana held her for a while and was then able to put her back down and she did fine. She finished up the class and did her shuffle-steps and got a stamp on her hand for being a good listener.



Unfortunately, this is the only pic I have of her actually in class. We get to watch on a tv screen in the front lobby!

When the class was over, we were waiting for her when she came out the door. She said, "I cried!" I said, "I know, I saw. Was it scary when there was a lot of noise?" Rebecca said, "It loud and I cwy!" I asked her if she had a good time, and she said yes, and she wanted to say goodbye to Miss Diana and to her little friends. Even in the car on the way home, she was talking about going back next week. So things were much better this week, and she definitely enjoyed herself.