Ballet Dreams

I've heard before that parents do for their childred what they wanted as children themselves.  For me, that was dance class.  I can remember desperately wanting to be a dancer as a child.  (Forget for a moment that I was overweight and hopelessly uncoordinated.)  Our family always played classical music during dinner, and I can remember leaving the dinner table to twirl around the family room until my parents absolutely insisted that I get in the bath.  It was one of my favorite things to do.

Fast forward to parenthood, and a little girl in our household.  One night many months ago I was home alone with T and needed a distraction.  Somehow we ended up with PBS on TV and Angelina Ballerina came on.  From that moment T was hooked.  She has always loved to dance, but now she was obsessed with being a ballerina.  I suppose I didn't discourage this at all with numerous ballet videos from toddlers to famous ballerinas.

On the way to her first class

A little over a week ago, T's dream - and admittedly, mine- materialized.  We dressed her up in a leotard and tights and headed over to the local dance studio for her first ballet class.  All the while, she was singing in the car "I'm a ballerina!  I'm a ballerina!"  To every other little girl in the waiting room "I'm a ballerina and I'm going to dance class!"  (Enthusiasm has never been a problem for her)

Thank goodness she loved it, and it looks like we may have many years of leaping and twirling in our future.