Dance Show

Today Lucy had her midseason "show" for dance. Basically, this just means that the parents get to come inside the dance room and watch them perform brief choreographed tap and ballet routines, and then go into the gym to watch them practice skills. It was pretty informal but the kids were excited about it.

It started out well with the tap routine. Lucy followed along with the teacher and did a nice job!

So tap was a success...not so much with the ballet. Before the routine they were showing us an activity where they "dance big" and "dance small" and when they were all crawling around on the floor she got accidentally (and gently) bumped in the face. In a moment of preschool oversensitivity, she crumpled and big tears fell. She came over to me and it took awhile to convince her she should go try her ballet dance. The first time through she watched from my lap, the second time she stood in the line but watched the girl next to her dance instead of doing it herself, and the third and final time she did tiny movements that generally resembled the routine. Smiles returned when she got into the gym, though...

Little Gym has been a great winter activity, and we'll be continuing through early June when we'll see the "BIG" show!

Watch Out, Dorothy Hamill

I realize some of you may not get that reference if you were born after 1985.

So what I'm trying to say is, Lucy is learning to ice skate!

Her coach is her daddy, who skated a lot when he was younger and has been recently reunited with hockey skates (and sore arches). I've never ice skated myself, but I did have a lot of fun being out on the ice with them the last time they went out.

I hope this is something that continues. I wouldn't mind being a Hockey Mom. :)

Blankey

We've been having a hard time getting going in the morning since several days off during the holiday. Oh, who I am kidding...we were having trouble before holiday, too. It's mostly my problem getting out of bed, but also a fair amount of a belligerent 3-year-old who likes to dig her heels in about 5 minutes before we are supposed to leave, and getting out the door turns from a 5-minute ordeal to more like 15. So. Annoying.

Monday morning was bad; we didn't even leave the house until close to 8:00, which  means I didn't get to work until after 8:30. I feel like so much of the morning is wasted when I don't get in at a decent time, nevermind that most of my co-workers have already been there at least an hour. Coming in later is something I've come to terms with because I have drop-off (and everyone else understands) but I can do better than I've been doing. Not to mention those hours still have to get in somewhere, so that means longer evenings and longer Fridays (which is supposed to be a half day).

Anyway,  I was determined to make a better attempt this morning, and it was going well. Everything went pretty smoothly and we were out of the house by 7:30, a full half-hour earlier than yesterday! Wa-hoo! We pulled into the parking lot of school by 7:40, and that's when I realized it.

We forgot the blankey.

Lucy has this soft, lavendar blanket given to her by one of my friends when she was a baby. She's been attached to it ever since. She's getting better about not needing it around ALL the time, but we bring it to school everyday for naptime and bring it home in the backpack every evening for bedtime.

So back to this morning. As I sat there with the key still in the ignition, my dilemma was this - do I mention it, or do I just go in without it, hope she doesn't notice, and let the teachers deal with it at naptime? That hardly seemed fair, and chances are she would notice before I left the premesis and I'd have wasted a few minutes by going in. So I turned around.

"We forgot something."

"What?"

"Blankey. Do we need it, or can we try a different blankey today?"

"I NEED it for NAPtime!"

Of course she did.

So, we pulled back out of the lot and headed home, where I ran inside and retrieved Blankey.

So much for being early today.

But as much of a  pain it is sometimes when we have to run back and get it, I'm sure I'll be sad when the day comes that Blankey isn't shown so much favor. So for now, I'll be a few minutes late .

Happy New Year

It's a new year.

I've seen some posts on Facebook where people choose a word for the new year. I like this idea, in lieu of resolutions. By selecting one word, there is flexibility in how that word is carried through the year, how it is applied. I like flexibility.

So my word for 2013 is HEALTH. It doesn't mean losing weight or eating better, although those would be great and could be results. It's more a state of mind. All-around feeling good. Working toward balance. Feeling confident. Physical strength. Mental resilience. Getting things straight.

HEALTH. What's your word for 2013?