Oh-Bla-Di

…when on Earth did this happen?

It seems to me that Ava’s whole life (all three years of it) has been building to this day…the day when she began her formal dance education.  It’s undeniable to the people who know her well, that Whoozers was meant to dance and to perform.  She’s got great rhythm, always has, and loves to dance.  So, when we signed her up and got her all the gear for Christmas, we were fairly certain this first day would go well.  And it did.  She LOVED it.

Ready to go with her dance shoes!

Waiting anxiously for class to start.

The class Ava is signed up for is an hour long – half hour of ballet and a half hour of tap.  Ballet starts with stretching and a quick run through of the five ballet positions.

Then it was time to move across the floor in pairs, working on pirouettes and skipping.

After ballet, it’s time for a quick change of shoes and back in for tap.  During the shoe change, Ava said, “Mommy, this is so fun! (petting my face) It’s just so fun.”

Noah came along for class, too, and really enjoyed it.

We figure that he might as well get used to this, as he’s got lots of dance classes and recitals in his future.  Matt’ll be able to coach him through it, though, as a seasoned big brother of a dancer.

Once tap started, we laughed out loud every time the teacher put her finger to her lips to ask the girls to be quiet during tap.  Eight little girls in tap shoes and quiet?  Never going to happen.  But, we weren’t allowed in the studio, so were saved from the sound by the window between us.  I’d imagine that her ears were fairly ringing by the end of it.

The last ten minutes of class were for the girls just to dance however they felt like it.  They played Freeze Dancing…freezing when the music stopped.  It was pretty crazy in there….they obviously needed to just let all their wiggles out!

At the end of class, Ava came out to take off her shoes and get ready to go home.  She said, “Mommy, that was wonderful.”  I’m pretty sure we’ll be going back next week.

So proud of our girl and so excited for her new adventure!

Some, especially those folks on my side of the family, like to say that Whoozers is my mini-me.  And, indeed, she does look an awful lot like I did at her age.  But an equal number of folks, coming from the other side of the family, sure see a whole lot of her daddy in her.  I think she got just about equal doses myself.  Ever since I took these photos, though, I can’t help but think that just maybe the scales are tipping a bit to Matt’s influence.  

Whoever she looks like, she’s pretty cute, huh?

We finally got around to meeting Santa this year.  Ava chatted his ear off and Noah sort of just looked at him like he wasn’t sure what was going on.

This Santa was really awesome, so the kiddos got to spend as much time as they wanted talking to him.

Ava asked Santa for a purple present (full of candy) with a bow, this year.  Noah was a bit less specific in his first meeting with the big guy.

By the way, how’s this for a flashback?  Here’s Ava meeting Santa for the first time wearing the same onesie.

But, now, the orders are in, the elves are hard at work, the cookies are ready…

…and it’s time for Christmas finally to arrive!

Out of the blue last week, Ava said she wanted to go ice skating.  Seemed like the perfect time, so we found a place to go.  Surprisingly, for this being a desert, we had several choices!

We showed up at the rink just in time for an open skate, rented our skates, and got ready to go.

The rink was pretty crowded, but we were able to use some of their toddler walkers to help Ava get a good start.

Eventually, though, the walker ended up being more trouble than it was worth, so we moved on to just holding hands and working along the boards.  By the fourth or fifth time around the week, she was really starting to get the hang of it.  Whoozers was even starting to let go of everything and just scoot on around.

Ava had a great time skating and was a huge fan of “going fast” when we would push her around the rink.  She was totally wiped out afterward, but woke up the next morning asking if we were going again.  I think it was a hit!