ballerina girl

the bean started dance class last week.  i thought i was gonna die from the hilarity of it all.

it started with getting her dressed in her leotard and tights, and then trying my damnedest to put her long hair into a ballerina-style bun.  have i mentioned how truly awful i am at doing hair?  she's lucky i can do a [mostly] straight part and put it up into pigtails.  there are about a dozen bobby pins holding this sad little bun together. 

poor little thing - she'd missed the first class because she was sick, and then the dancewear shop we visited for her tap and ballet shoes (it's a combo class) was out of her size.  the shipment was arriving that day, but not in time for class.  we checked the local payless, but found that with the discount we got at the shop (i guess the dance center sends them so much business, they give the students a little added incentive to buy there) it would be cheaper to wait.  so i ended up throwing on a pair of fake ballet slippers from old navy on and hoping she wouldn't notice that everyone else had cool shoes that made noise during the tap dance portion of class.

the dance center is super close to our house, which is nice.  hopefully this won't mean that we're constantly late.  heh.

the studio for the "tiny tots" class is right in front and a few girls were already there, along with what seemed like a zillion parents.  she ran right in and made herself at home.

"mooooom.  no pictures! you're embarrassing me!"  she didn't actually say this, but i know she was thinking it.

as the class started, the teacher shut the door to minimize the distraction.  of course, for me (and a lot of other parents), this meant crappy pictures shot through the window.  oh well, better than nothing.

it was so. stinking. cute.  if you have about a minute and seventeen seconds to kill, this is pretty funny to watch.  again, i was at the window, so please excuse the crappy quality and the lame commentary in the background.



anyway, when it was all over the girls all lined up near the door to receive their sticker and lollipop.  the bean managed to snag a spot at the front of the line.  we'd gone the previous week to enroll and so she could see what it was all about before she got thrown right into the thick of things.  the prizes at the end of class had really stuck with her, as you can tell.

the instructor showed the girls how to curtsy as they were given their treats.  it was cute.

she showed me her lollipop proudly as i buckled her into the seat.

let's hope these dance classes result in her being a much better dancer than her mother.