The Horror!

Watch Out, World

Rachel took her first dance class in the fall. The Little Ballerinas class she wanted to take was all full when I called to sign her up, but because of high demand they started a second class. Turns out only 3 girls took the second class because the others had already signed up for other classes, so Rachel had a very personal experience for her first dance class, which I'm sure was good for her ability to start grasping the concepts and learning some control over her body.

The class recital was in early December, and the teacher had the 3 girls perform a routine to Madonna's version of "Santa Baby." They could *not* have been cuter.

Here's Miss Rachel occupying herself with coloring before it was her group's turn to go on stage.
She had a bit of trouble finding her mark...twice. They had moved some things around during rehearsal and she was the only one with a purple piece of tape instead of white. She did fine adjusting the first time, but when it happened again and people started chuckling, she brought her elbow up to her mouth and looked very sad for a brief moment. I was about half a second away from going down there and getting her when she ran over and joined in a line and started back up with the routine, and she did really well the rest of the time.

The pose at the end. I wish it was clearer, but it was harder than anything for the camera to capture any decent light in the room.

I think they were supposed to be taking bows here. This was just before the teacher motioned to them to blow some kisses, but I think Rachel was the only one who did.

Rachel with her teacher, Miss Sue.

A tired-out little girl post-performance.

She announced after the recital that she wanted to take cheerleading next. The cheerleading class also performed a routine during the recital, and apparently she thought that seemed cool. The starting age is too high (7, I think?), so instead she's taking Dance-A-Rama I, which teaches the basics of ballet and tap. The ballet will mostly be a refresher for what she's already learned, but I think that's good because she'll feel really confident with that part and it will probably help her with being comfortable learning tap. Plus she's super-excited about the tap shoes and all the clicky sounds she gets to make with those :)

If I can figure out how to upload the video and just get the recital performance as a segment, I'll post it here. I'm not totally ignorant technologically (although I don't know how to upload video yet), it's more a matter of finding out how and making the time to do it.

Still, Small Quiet

We have a routine for Rachel that ends with teeth brushing, flossing, face washing, a devotional reading and then a prayer in her room.  We've done this since she was a baby and I regret that we haven't done the same with Ben.  But usually after the prayer, Rachel will ask one of us (usually me) to "stay for a little while."  I'll lay on the floor in her room, but the rules are that her eyes and mouth must stay closed and her head must stay on the pillow.  Sometimes I'll fall asleep next to her bed and sometimes I'll only stay for a short while before attempting to make an escape (which she usually catches me doing).  Far too often I'll beg off.  Tonight I lay there next to her bed and listened to her breathing growing heavier and heavier.  Her hand was at her face, but its movements had slowed.  The rain continued to beat heavily on the house.  I began to get up to leave.  She whispered, asking me once again to stay.  I declined and she sat up, eyes still closed and stretched out her arms.  Another hug, another kiss and she laid back down, and I departed, whispering to her the two last things she hears from me every night (which means I repeat it an awful lot some nights when she has a problem staying in bed and is calling for us constantly), "Good night" and "I love you."

Wrong Question

Tonight, during the drive home, Rachel asked "Mom?" and then waited for Lori to finish what she was saying.  When Lori answered her, Rachel asked "How long until we get home?" And then immediately "That wasn't what I was going to ask.  But I forgot, so I said that instead."  Love how her mind works.

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Tonight, we were getting Ben ready for bed and Lori was washing under his chin with a wipe.  He laughed so loud in that way only tiny babies can.  Rachel was in the room, too, so I tickled her.  Soon, everyone was tickling everyone else.  A very special moment.

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Ben wants to walk.  He will pull himself up on anything he can, but then he'll try to let go, or only touch any surfaces with the lightest of touch, this evening going so far as to figure that if he used his elbow, he'd have two hands free to grab the remote off the coffee table and shove in his mouth.  He is just fascinated by the silver remote for some reason.  He gets quite frustrated when he falls or can't keep his balance and I think he'll walk before he crawls.