So you think you can dance, dance, dance....

I thought she'd love it. Enchanted dance it's called, and you even get to dress up! Allison made it through the first 40 minutes of her first hour long dance class. Anyway, she was a little hesitant, but she seemed to like it. I had prepped her beforehand, telling her to do everything her teacher did, act like a mirror to her. So after 40 minutes, it was like a switch turned off. She was done. She seemed a bit tired...I mean and hour is a long time...at least I'll get my money's worth...or so I thought. Class number 2...she resisted participating the WHOLE time. I even bribed her with a McDonald's ice cream cone and after I agreed to add chicken nuggets and fries to it, she STILL didn't want to have anything to do with it. I made the mistake of saying, "If you're not going to participate, we're going home." Her response? You guessed it, "Ok." Then I decided, no, we're staying. (Usually I stick with what I say no matter how much I regret saying it but I really spoke to quick.) So she stayed and watched. She was REALLY upset when she realized we weren't going to "Old MacDonalds" and melted down the whole way home. Tired again.
Then ALL week, we talked about dance and she would tell me how she was going to do EVERYTHING Miss Kathy did and she even showed me the moves they had done the week before when she sat on the chair. The morning of, we talked about it some more and I figured we were set and things would go great. Wrong again. We came in and to the chair she went. I kept telling her she was not earning her ice cream and she didn't seem to mind. She just watched Margo and the other girls have fun.I finally figured, if SHE wasn't going to get my money's worth...someone was, so Cole gladly joined in on the action. He LOVED it. Allison loved watching him too.
Finally, to break up the hour, Miss Kathy pulled out Elefun--this toy that blows little butterflies up this tube and all the girls tried to catch them. Allison did that but as soon as it was put away, it was back to the chair. Afterwards, Miss Kathy told us Allison was still trying to be sure it was a safe place for her and asked if she came home and did all the moves... she totally does. So we walk to the car and as Allison is getting in she says, "That was fun!" I'm like..hello?! You didn't even participate!! But alas, I was going to stick with it.

So Monday last week came. I only realized late Sunday night that we had dance in the morning so I didn't say much until it was time to get ready to go. Nana stayed at our house overnight so she stayed at the house while Cole slept in. It was nice not having to worry about him or wear him on my back. Shockingly, she got right in there, with me by her side, and participated during the whole hour! I was SOO happy! And so was she because she was ready for her ice cream...and nuggets and fries she reminded me. So away we went at 10:30am to "Old MacDonalds" and grabbed the goods...and she even got to eat the ice cream first so it didn't melt on her brunch. I was sure to be clear that participation next week would only earn an ice cream--not a whole freakin' happy meal! I mean common...I've been sacrificing fast food for months and here she gets the works! She got lots of praise from Daddy and Nana and Grandma and Grandpa over the next week for her participation in dance.



This last Monday she did great too. I was sure to tell her that she could only earn an ice cream cone...no nuggets or fries. I had bought this coupon book that came with a couple coupons for a small ice cream--so I couldn't just get Allison one--Cole needed one too. I was thinking it was for those 25 cent cones...oh no...it was these HUGE cones. Man was it great though...I helped Cole with his a little every so often to get the drips, but it was a lifesaver for the next few errands we ran!


Maybe it's that child inside of me that wishes I wasn't lurpy and that I could have been a cute little dancer and that's why I'm pushing her, but I'd like to think that I push her to try new things and new experiences to have her decide what she likes...how can you decide if you don't give it a fair shot....right??