Friday, July 6, 2012

Be still my heart!

Today was a very exciting day.

Today was Arina's first dance class.


We got the bun in fairly easily!

Even the smallest leotard and tights I could find were too big, and the shoes, ginormous! But she knew where she was going, and she was ready!
This dance studio has a special needs class, which I thought was cool. But it only had older kids, the youngest was five. I thought that was too old for Arina.
Plus, why should I separate her? There is no reason she can't go into a class with children her own age. "Typical children" her own age!

I will admit that I was petrified! I lay in bed last night with all kinds of thoughts running through my head.
I thought that maybe she would just run around the studio, oblivious to everyone else in the room.
Or she would just sit on the side, unwilling to participate.
But my biggest fear was that the other parents were going to not want her in their children's class. That they would be angry that a "special needs" child would be in with their "typical kids".
I'm honestly not sure why I thought that. I have yet to see any negativity towards Arina in the last year and a half. Not a thing. But I've heard the stories, and I know it does indeed happen sometimes.
When that door opened she was right inside. The knot in my stomach loosened a bit when she sat and stretched with the class.
(Sorry, these pics were taken through glass!)

There were a few times when she had to scoot her back over, because she would scoot closer to another girl to give her a hug. There were a few times when I wanted to go inside and talk to the teacher, after all, I forgot to tell her that she had Down syndrome (in case she couldn't tell!) and that she has very little speech. But her receptive language is right in her age group. I wanted to tell her it was ok to get her and put her back if she walked away from the group. That it might be harder to keep her on track. But I held off, I had to let her learn.
And for the most part, she did amazing! It was so hard for this momma to hold back tears!


Sometimes the wand went in the mouth, and sometimes when the teacher sat her down she would stand back up and follow her.
Her shoes kept falling off, (the teacher told me a place to get tiny shoes!) and yes, this dance mom cut her tights already. I never had a pair of tights uncut. I wanted to be able to pull them up so she didn't slip when class was over!

But after all my fears, I call it a huge success for my princess!!



27 comments:

Kristin said...

Your GIRL!!!!

Not a Perfect Mom said...

YES!!! I knew she would rock it!

Deborah said...

Love those pictures! Yay for a fun dance class - and a beautiful girl! :)

TUC said...

Oh my goodness, she is so darling!

Heather said...

Adorable!!! I think you were right. She belonged in that class!!!!

Shelly Turpin said...

oh Lacey...how cool!

Junior said...

Wonderful

Unknown said...

This made my whole day! I can't wait until Abby is old enough for dance.

Deanna said...

that is so amazingly cute!

Heather said...

Oh my gosh Lacey!! Look at your beautiful princess, would you??

When she is bigger, she and Zoey will have to go to "Free 2 Be Me", in Santa Monica ... A dance organization that is an off shoot of a program started through the Boston Ballet company ... all extra chromosomed darlings. Boys and girls. Wouldn't that be awesome?

Kiss your ballerina from us please.

Becca said...

How WONDERFUL!!!! Love these photos, can't believe how grown she is getting. A truly beautiful little princess, ready to charm the pants off if everyone, gaining fans everywhere she goes. :-)

Hope said...

This made me smile!

Angi said...

So, so very wonderful!!

Melanie L said...

Oh, yay!!

Lane said...

This post brought tears to my eyes! I am so excited that she loved dance class and had an amazing experience. The pictures you took are PRICELESS!!
Lane
http://theplemons.blogspot.com/

Scrappy quilter said...

OMG, this is priceless. What a little sweetheart, ready to take on the dance world. I love it. Hugs

The VW's said...

Seriously cute! I just love her! My favorite part of your post was when you talked about Arina wanting to hug the other girls! Makes my heart smile! Our special kiddos are so full of love.....and they can't help but share it with others! I bet you can't wait for the next class! : )

ANewKindOfPerfect said...

Oh! I love this post, all the pictures, and your sweet girl! :)

ANewKindOfPerfect said...

Aw! I love that girl so much!

Anonymous said...

you're right...she is a princess! A very precious, much loved princess! thank you for letting us follow your wonderful family.

Suzie

Stephanie said...

TEARS!!!!!!
Give her a huge hug and kiss from me!!!

Rochelle said...

Love, love, love! She looks adorable!

Unknown said...

Oh I cry! Happy tears...I can not figure out why I always think the other parents might not want my Maddie In the class...I need to stop and know that our kids always hav a spot in society even if we hav to make the spot..great pix! Smiles

Unknown said...

Precious, precious!!!!! So adorable and yes why would you separate her, she fits right in. How old is she? I've been thinking its time to sign T up!

Anonymous said...

beautiful!

Lisa said...

I didn't comment when I first read this but throughout the day it's been making me smile each time I think about it. I know how much dancing was a big part of your life and the joy of sharing that with Arina - I get that. I love how you put her right in the typical class and didn't even tell the teacher. I know you weren't trying to keep it from her, what I love about it is that you didn't make a big deal about Down syndrome. It doesn't need to be a big deal and I needed to be reminded of that so thank you for your example. I thank God that he put Arina in your family - the joy she brings to you spreads to the rest of us as you share bits of your life on the blog.

Jeana said...

So so sweet! I can't wait to get my girls in dance too!