{"id":2428,"date":"2010-03-23T08:38:36","date_gmt":"2010-03-23T12:38:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.forgetful.ca\/?p=2428"},"modified":"2010-03-23T08:38:36","modified_gmt":"2010-03-23T12:38:36","slug":"tiny-dancer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/forgetful.ca\/?p=2428","title":{"rendered":"Tiny Dancer"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Last week Jaia had her last ballet class. \u00a0The way it works is that parents aren’t allowed in to watch during the sessions until the last one, where they set up chairs and treat it like a bit of a recital. \u00a0Though when the dancers are ages 3-5, there isn’t much structured dance, so you basically watch them follow the instructor and (sometimes) do what she says.<\/p>\n

You might remember from Jaia’s first class that following the instrustor wasn’t her strong suit. \u00a0A strong-willed, independent little girl, she wanted to dance the way she liked to and not bother with the rest of the class. \u00a0It was hilarious.<\/p>\n

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But 6 or so weeks later, as we sat there looking like parents from a Hallmark commercial smiling and waving at her while she performed, \u00a0we were shocked at the transformation – and the confidence. \u00a0She not only followed instruction, she was raising her hand with the others to offer suggestions, waiting her turn in line (patiently) to get her crown and ribbon, dancing along with the class (though she was throwing her own moves in between) and most importantly, was actually happy to be there.<\/p>\n

Up until a couple of months ago, this kid was painfully shy. \u00a0Even with friends or family she would see often, the first half an hour of any visit saw her peeking out from behind my legs trying to scope out the scene and get comfortable before she would come out of hiding. \u00a0But since turning 3, a switch flipped. \u00a0She’s a new person. \u00a0She makes friends out at the park and is much less introverted. \u00a0 I almost cried the day I watched her hold hands with a little girl and go down the slide with her as if they’d known each forever. \u00a0(Ok, I did cry a little, but no one saw me so it barely counts.)<\/p>\n

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It’s crazy to how fast she is growing up and becoming her own little person. \u00a0She amazes me every day. \u00a0She has plans, dreams, ideas and thoughts all her own. \u00a0And lots of them. \u00a0Now that this session of ballet is over, she’s taking a few days to decide if she’d like to join swimming, soccer or ballet this time. \u00a0I’m secretly hoping for soccer but I’m letting her decide. \u00a0Then again, she probably wouldn’t take my suggestion anyway so I’ll keep mum…unless she asks for my opinion.<\/p>\n

Ha. \u00a0Fat chance.<\/p>\n

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Last week Jaia had her last ballet class. \u00a0The way it works is that parents aren’t allowed in to watch during the sessions until the last one, where they set up chairs and treat it like a bit of a recital. \u00a0Though when the dancers are ages 3-5, there isn’t much structured dance, so you […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0},"categories":[26,28,37],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/forgetful.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2428"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/forgetful.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/forgetful.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/forgetful.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/forgetful.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2428"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/forgetful.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2428\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/forgetful.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2428"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/forgetful.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2428"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/forgetful.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2428"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}