Dance Your Heart Out

Madelyn had her first dance recital on Saturday! Finally. I thought we weren't going to be able to have it because the weather has been so bad. It was rescheduled twice. I guess it's true when they say the third times the charm. She did a fabulous job! I have never been more proud of my little girl! She was quite

nervous about the recital all day long. Shortly after she woke up on Saturday morning she said, "mommy, I not know how to do my 'cital. I not big 'nough." I spent some time trying to convince her that she was a beautiful ballerina and knew exactly what to do. But deep down I wondered if she would actually pull it off. Don't get me wrong- I have complete confidence in her. I just know how she can get when she is nervous/anxious/tired. I knew that she would either do really well or have a total meltdown and not even make it to the stage. We went to dance class and they practiced the entire time for the recital. Like I said, this was the third time it had been scheduled. It had actually been about a month since her last dance class! She did well. After that I had planned to spend the day at home, allowing Madelyn and Oliver to nap. Of course, this didn't go as planned. We went home and Oliver napped. But not Mad. She was too excited to nap (which is typically the case). Which also meant she was headed towards exhaustion. When it was time to head to the Asheville Arts Center we were all in decent moods- and Madelyn was beyond excited. Once we arrived it was time for her to get dressed. I helped her into her pink leotard and blue tutu. Then we put on her tap shoes and fixed her hair. She looked gorgeous!! I had some time to snap some pictures before the recital began.

                                     

After I was done taking a million pictures of my cutie, I decided I would try to go upstairs and find our seats. Philip had already gone upstairs with Ollie to meet the family and try to "claim" good seats (where we could actually see the stage). As soon as I headed towards the door, Mad looked at me and got a little teary. She ran towards me and began sobbing into my shirt. Uh-oh! This is what I was afraid of. She was nervous and tired...not a good combination! I convinced her to let go of me but she kept saying, "but mommy, I wanna stay with you." I eventually broke away and Madelyn got in line. As I sat down next to Philip, I wondered if Madelyn would even make it to the stage. But, within a few moments the girls came through the door. They all looked really precious! And then there was little Madelyn! Once I spotted her I knew she was going to do it!
The girls began dancing to The Dreidel song and before I knew it the song had ended. Madelyn did such a great job! I wanted to see more! And I would get to...since they had another recital in 30 minutes!! :) She did just as well for the second recital. Although, during the second recital her shoe came untied. She kept looking at her shoe trying to figure out what to do. I knew that the teacher had told them several times before the recital that if your shoe comes untied just to keep dancing. I was a little nervous that Mad would get upset about her shoelace and she kept looking at it throughout the remainder of the song. But, she continued to dance! I am so proud of her! She even asked me this morning when she would get to have another recital.

And to top it off, Oliver did really well too! We weren't sure how well he would sit for two recitals, but he did amazing!