what's new

We added a few activities to our schedule this week.

Schedule...not that we have much of one as it is. Generally, we fall on the low-key side as far as places-to-go/people-to-see are concerned. We get together with the playgroup in our ward most weeks and I try to make it to an aerobics class at our stake center two days a week--the kids enjoy the little nursery they provide there.

But this week the kids actually started some classes. Evening community classes through the school district. For the next couple of months, RVC and TLC will both attend a tumbling class and RVC will also attend a ballet class.

Tuesday was the first tumbling class. We ate an early dinner and loaded up for the drive out to Granger High School. It was a little different than I expected. They held the class in a small gym on a couple of rolled out wrestling mats. I thought we (parents) would be watching the class from the side, but the teacher had us step out into the gym next door. SCC and I did our best to stay entertained with a few snacks, laps around the gym and frequent peeks out the door to the parking lot. We watched as, during the 45 minute class, a few kids were brought out to parents, a little unsure about the experience. R and T seemed to do fine, but they were also a bit vague when I tried to get the details of the class out of them. It was a rather strange beginning, but we're hoping it gets better.

Last night we were a little bit late to RVC's first ballet class (the start time had changed and I guess we had missed the memo), but she was just in time to join the other girls taking big steps across the room, making "triangles" with their bodies, and skipping around the Skyline High dance studio to the beat of a drum (I could tell R was a little bit stressed about the skipping part, as she had been practicing it just the other day, but none of the kids had quite mastered that particular skill).

It turns out that this class culminates with a special performance. The teacher read them a story about the wind (apparently one they will dance to for the performance) and had them use their bodies to show different wind movements--"lifting butterflies," "stealing hats," and "crashing waves" were a few. From my perspective, RVC was very much in her element, and I felt myself smiling the whole class. But at the same time, this was one of the first times she's taken part in something with a group of older kids. There were a couple of moments of insecurity when she would look over at me with concern on her face--like she was wondering whether she was doing something right. Sometimes I didn't want to catch her eye because I didn't want her to think she needed my approval. Confidence is a hard thing to develop--something I've seen myself struggle with on different levels throughout life; now I'm watching from the side as my little girl faces some of those same feelings.

I think I can handle this new schedule with it's added activity over the coming weeks...it's the rest of growing up I'm not so sure about.