Five Six Seven Eight

Miriam attended her first official dance class this morning accompanied, of course, by her Mama, her Daddy, and her brother Eli. It was at the community center and advertised on one flyer for kids 2-5, on another kids 3-5. Either way, it was a pretty big span of ages and I was afraid my little 2.5 year old would be the littlest and most immature one who wouldn't follow directions and would make all the other kids and parents mad. Especially if they had the 3-5 flyer. But when you go into something expecting it to be rather awkward, you're usually pretty pleased with the results. Positive negativism, as I always say. Miriam did great. She was one of four little girls. One girl is three and a half, exactly a year older than Miriam, and the other two were twins who are three turning four. All of them were extremely attracted to the wall-sized mirror and the barre. I was glad that both the other moms and the grandma had cameras. Miriam was the second tallest of the four, the only one not in a leotard, and usually the first one to raise her hand and say "I KNOW" when the teacher asked a question even if she didn't know the answer. She followed directions during stretching and was able to at least attempt the things. She did fantastic at walking on tiptoes across the floor with her arms up in a ballerina position. She did surprisingly well at the gallop step. Skipping was an issue, but she wasn't aware that she was just running, so all is well there too. She was a fabulous hip-shaker, partly I'm sure due to her love of the Wiggles. They hip-shake quite a bit. Brent's favorite moment came when one of the twins seemed sad and was standing apart from the group. Miriam walked up to her and threw her arm non-chalantly around her shoulders. She looked at the girl and gave her a big cheesy grin. I could not but laugh. The class was scheduled for 45 minutes. Forty two minutes into it, Miriam turned towards us and lolled her head to the side, her body virtually limp. That's always a sign that she's not going to be doing anything anybody asks her anytime soon. Sure enough, she made a beeline for the sidelines and said "ALL DONE!" She collapsed and watched her friends finish the last three minutes. All in all, it was a perfect class and Miriam was a perfect little lady.