Emerson’s dance journey the past 9 months has been nothing short of a roller coaster ride of emotions — beginning at the bottom and looping its way up to the top with many ups and downs in between. I knew it wasn’t going to be a complete walk in the park from the beginning. I was nervous to enroll her  knowing her birthday fell a few days past the age cut-off (3 yrs) and she was still only 2 that very first class! At home she was watching old dance recital tapes and Shirley Temple movies like crazy, so we went for it!  Emerson is pretty shy and it took several weeks of warming up to the girls in her class (and let’s not forget how much time she spent crawling around the dance floor like a dog during lessons) but watching her gradually learn and grow throughout these months was so worth it! The weeks leading up to the recital were honestly pretty tough. Motivating her to get her leotard on every week became more and more of a task and it was also requiring more and more bribery (not good!). I was beginning to wonder how she would ever get up on stage considering the separation anxiety she faced each week when I dropped her off. She had a lot of family coming to see her breakthrough performance and I was worried about the pressure she may feel to do something she wasn’t ready for. Finally the day of her first rehearsal came and put all my fears to rest. Without any hesitation she went backstage with the other tiny dancers and came out full of confidence and pizzaz! She was so excited to get up on that stage and shake her cute little butt! I sat in complete shock as she buzzed around smiling and laughing the whole time. It was such a proud moment for me to sit back and enjoy!

The rest of the week went so smoothly I’m kind of sad it’s over!  She was the cutest little bumble bee and I could not be more proud to call her mine! Here are a few pics of her journey throughout the dance year and finally her recital!