Snips, Snails & Pretty Pigtails: Saylor, part 1

Saylor started taking ballet last year, and I worried (and worried) that it was too hard for her. I mean, she couldn't even skip! I thought she'd never learn, in fact. But it turns out that a full year of dance when you're four does a lot of good toward helping one LEARN to SKIP.

And you could NOT have found a girl in that class who had as much FUN as she did while at dance class. She was the one we'd hear giggling uncontrollably when they'd finish one thing and get in position for something else. The other girls just did as they were told, but Saylor would literally bound from one place to another, laughing giddily. She LOVED every minute of it. So funny. And now that she's started her second year, I can already see that she has become more coordinated with age. I'm so excited for her!

Her June recital was a full-story ballet based on Hans Christian Andersen's fairytale "The Emperor and The Nightingale" and involved the entire company of dancers. Saylor's age group (the youngest) were the little birds of the forest and their teacher played the nightingale. It was a really neat production. Those little birds were too cute for words!

And they did an excellent job, too, considering how much they had to "remember" and that while standing on a stage under all those stage lights. That's hard!

We got several pictures right after the performance (once her hair was falling down, of course) with her three (count 'em...three!) bouquets of flowers.

And then we took a few more at home...for Mimi's sake.

(And, yes, there is a creepy yellowish bruise on her forehead. She clocked herself at the park about a week before the recital. PURRRRfect timing, right?)

She's already started asking about this year's recital. *grin* It's gonna be a long year...