You may recall that we have had Mira in
gymnastics class for quite a while now. Well, when she turned 3, the classes went from being Parent-and-tot classes to solo classes that she attends by herself. At the same time, the place we are taking her has a variety of specialized classes for children starting at age 3. One of the classes available is dance/gymnastics fusion. Given Mira's love of dance and the dance talent of her aunts foretelling an innate ability, how could we not move her into the dance class the minute she was able?
Well, at first she was really nervous about it. The day of her first class, she said she was feeling sick (nauseated) and that she didn't want to go. But I told her, "Let's just go try it and see if it is fun. We'll never know until we try." So we went and the first class she spent just standing to the side and watching. She didn't participate at all, just observed. She also was not able to stay in the class the entire time; she made it for 30 minutes before she came out and "needed a break". Somehow after 15 minutes of sitting with me, I convinced her to go back in for the last 15 minutes of class.
The second class went only marginally better than the first. She still said she didn't want to go, but I managed to talk her into it again. She at least managed to stay in the class the entire time, but it was still pure observation, no participation at all.
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| Don't they look cute, all lined up and turned out? |
I was starting to get discouraged, thinking that maybe she'd never warm up to it, but then, in the third class....
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| Have you ever seen so many pink tutus in your life? |
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| My, my, that is some adorable dancing. |
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| Also, by the third week, Mira had acquired an admirer. I think this little girl may have been a big reason that Mira finally began participating, since the girl was practically dragging Mira into the action. It was just the push (or pull) that Mira needed. |
They do ballet and creative movement, followed by tap, and then gymnastics.
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| Learning how to shuffle. See the little tap shoes? *swoon* |
And then she also gets some time in each class to work on her gymnastics skills too.
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| Parallel bars |
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| Forward rolls |
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| Look how strong she is: she can hold her own weight on the bars! |
After class, Ellowyn decided she'd better spruce up on her dance skills as well, if she was going to keep up with her sister.
2 comments:
That's so darling!! what an opportunity for her:) and seems she's just right there ready to bloom with it!
And you are a SUPER-GREAT mom to help her figure out how to overcome her initial reserve and get involved! Learning now that she CAN do new stuff will continuously pay off in a big way for her!!! Oh, and of course I'm not biased at all when I say she is the most BEAUTIFUL girl in the class.
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