Everybody Dance Now...

Our little G is taking dance; the class is called Creative Movement. She is in the youngest class and all the girls are between 2 and 3. She really seems to enjoy herself, never wanting to exit the room during instruction like a few of her shy classmates; however she now seems to be having some difficulty paying attention for the full 30 minutes.

Understandably so, her first class she wondered around the room dancing and smiling. She understood we were going to dance class so she danced! Hahaha, so cute J we even got a few comments from the other parents and the teacher: saying she did great for her first class... she wasn’t sassy or pushy and she stayed in the room. So, I guess you can say we started off well. We talked to her about taking turns and listening to her teacher and the next 9 or so classes went really smooth. There are three notable mentions: 1) she still can’t/won’t jump. She just squats down a little then stands quickly with a jerk to her shoulders and says jump. We’re working on that J 2) she is great at waiting her turn, but when she is called on and there is someone else left she wants them to go first... she wants to go absolutely last. Being nice and waiting her turn to the max 3) she likes to play before and after dance in the lobby which has toys including a play kitchen. One time we had to pick her up kicking and screaming to leave. (sigh) pretty sure that’s totally on us. We let her stay late the night before. She was probably tired and a bit cranky even though she was happy and playful during class. If I remember right, she did nap that day (which is no longer the norm), so pretty sure she was just over tired earlier.

And now we’ve reached the next phase - testing the limits. At home, with grandmama, and at dance no less. I think it’s been 3 classes now that she has gone rogue. The first sign of the shift was one time she wouldn’t get out of the nylon tunnel the girls take turns crawling through. So after waiting a bit to see if the teacher could manage, I went in the classroom and dumped her out. I followed it up with a clam reminder that she needs to take her turn and listen to her teacher. She was good and minded the rest of that class. The following week she pouted a bit and wondered aimlessly for parts of the class. I removed her and had her watch the girls ‘have fun learning dance’ until she asked to return. I let her and she again participated and minded the remainder of the class. Not sure what that was about.

Overall she still seems to like going and seeing her ‘friends’. Plus she no longer fights me when I put her hair up in preparation for class which is an improvement of itself. All in all we think it’s good for her to have some consistent interaction with other kids and introduce her to a teacher lead/structured instruction. We adore our little dancer!!