First Dance Recital

Sydney had her first dance recital after a few months of taking ballet/tap every Saturday morning. The first few sessions were rough. Sydney was clingy and crying but then she started to warm up to the idea of dancing as long as she could be within a couple of feet of Miss Amanda, her dance teacher. Then all was well in dancing land. She started to participate on her own and dancing up a storm. She has been enjoying dancing ever since. But dancing in a studio is one thing. Dancing on a stage with bright lights and a bunch of eyes staring might be another thing. We were apprehensive about her first dance recital and could only hope she would not freak out. We would have been happy with her standing there with stage fright without interrupting the rest of the class.

The class has been practicing for weeks on a tap routine. The chosen song was "Frosty, the Snowman." The selected venue was a small church down the street. We had no idea what to expect. How many people would be there? How early should we arrive? Even I was getting butterflies in my stomach as the big day was rapidly approaching.

We arrived 30 minutes early. Tracie took Sydney to the dressing room to meet up with the class and get dressed. I made my way to the auditorium. The place was packed with at least 150 people. Some families arrived an hour and a half to get the best seat in the house. I weaseled my way as close as I could to the front but ended up sitting to the right of the stage. At least I was on the 4th row. There were going to be 9 classes performing, and Sydney's class was up 2nd.

Then the big moment arrived...


Pardon the shakiness of the video and the occasional giggles in the background. We were just a couple of giddy parents passing the camera back and forth to get a better shot. I was never so proud of my little girl. Not only did Sydney participate in the routine, she did just about everything right. She placed the hat on her head when she was supposed to; she twirled and tapped almost in sync with the instructor. She even took the time to spot Tracie and I in the audience, waved and blew us a kiss, and kept going without hardly missing a beat. My girl rocked!!

We decided that our camerawork was so bad that we needed to buy the DVD from the professional videographer there. It's going to be great to show this to Sydney years from now. Her next recital is in May. Oh, boy! Oh, boy! OH, BOY!!! Can't wait.

First day in uniform

Now that Sydney has transitioned into pre-pre-K, her school requires her to be in uniform. Oh, boy. We anticipate a battle. Sydney has easily earned the title "Most Prissy" at her school.

Tracie reluctantly ordered a few items from the catalog, and we strategized together how to convince Sydney to put them on. Tracie knew Sydney's love for dresses so she ordered mainly dresses and a few shirts. We were told that the kids were required to wear uniforms Monday - Thursday, and they were allowed to express creativity (i.e. individualism) through other channels on Fridays (i.e. they can wear their normal clothes).

And so, we came up with a plan. During the first week, Tracie laid out Sydney's dress uniforms on top of the dresser with a different outfit for Friday. I showed Sydney the line up and told her every morning that if she wore the dresses, she would be allowed to wear the pretty Friday outfit later. It worked. In fact, it worked so well that she exclaimed on Wednesday, "I LOVE MY CLOTHES AND I LOVE MY SCHOOL!"


Doesn't she look all grown up? For her first uniform, she wore khaki dress with a navy shirt and navy knee-highs. She LOVED the knee-highs. I thought they looked funny but she absolutely refused to change into something else. What do I know, right?

Sydney learns to add

Sydney is almost 4 now. Her hair is getting much longer since she won't let us cut it. I'm not sure what all kids her age are supposed to know or do. She is definitely behaving like a 3-year old with her barrage of why's and how come's.

As we are welcoming a new year (still can't believe it's 2010) and a new decade, I am just thankful that Sydney still loves ballet and drawing. Santa brought her a new doll house and a table/chair set so she can spend more time in her room playing and drawing. We spent a bit of time with her at the table to help her get used to it. I thoroughly enjoyed her counting/adding game with Tracie using crayons. Take a look.



I never knew she could "add." How cute was that? She even took the time to pose for the camera. I love it.

Since it's been so long since I posted anything, I suppose I should recap at least events from Christmas through New Year. We drove down to Callaway Gardens, hoping to see the Festival of Lights that they were so famous for. We were totally unprepared for the cold since we thought we were driving around to see the lights. Once we found out that we had to buy tickets to get on an open trolley and that the next ride was for 10:30pm (2 hours from our arrival), we decided to visit the gift shops where it was warm and then head home. Sydney got to pose with the Frog from "Princess and the Frog" so she was happy.


She was even happier to be munching on pink and blue cotton candy, as evident by the blue lips in every picture.


We celebrate Christmas Eve with dinner at Chequer's. Sydney thoroughly enjoyed a bowl of lobster bisque and a few bites of macaroni and cheese. Before leaving, we posed in front of the Christmas tree to get a family photo (plus Bun Bun, her blue "daughter").

Fast forward to Christmas morning. Sydney woke up to find her dollhouse and table set next to the Christmas tree. Under the tree was a host of small presents to open. She squealed in great delight and tore into each one. She found some new dolls for her dollhouse, some jewelry from a game called "Pretty, Pretty Princess", coloring book, and even a tea set. She couldn't be happier. I sure hate trying to top this impressive assortment of presents next Christmas.


To round out the list of presents, Tracie got a new clock radio and I got a shirt and a big ol' flat screen TV. YAY!


What a wonderful Christmas we had. Let's hope for a fantastic new year!!