Lily's dance recital is tomorrow, and she's so very, very excited. Because my mom and sister were both working yesterday afternoon and evening, it was my responsibility to get her ready for and take her to dress rehearsal yesterday. The Dance Dictators have very specific instructions for how these little girls are supposed to look, which my sister passed on to me both orally and in writing, so I dutifully slicked back, AquaNetted, lipsticked, mascaraed, and befeathered Miss Lily to specifications and delivered her to the big-big stage in her pretty-pretty dress.

This one has no fear. She went right up there and sat with her group until it was their turn to take the stage. There was some kind of mixup, because they lined up on stage but didn't do their number right away. They ended up staying off to the side of the stage through the next several groups, all the while waving at the audience and imitating what the other groups on stage were doing. There's nothing like a flock of four-year-olds to make you want to experience the magic of childhood again. When the Dance Dictators finally got it together (there's a long rant about the rampant disorganization of the entire two-hour rehearsal that turned into a four-hour rehearsal, but I'm trying hard to not spew it here), Lily was one of the precious few who wasn't constantly watching her neighbor and seemed to know mostly what she was supposed to be doing. Neither the lights nor the audience bothered her; she seemed right at home up there on stage.

We had to wait around to practice the finale, which consisted solely of each group coming out and taking a bow (again, suppressing rant), and Lily was so well behaved the entire time. She sat on my lap and watched the other groups take their turns so patiently, despite being hungry and bored. She had fun tickling my nose with her feathers. I asked her if it was scary up on the stage, and she said it wasn't. She asked about the lights: why some were on and some were off, and how they make them different colors. We picked out which costumes were our favorites. I realized after watching a large number of girls and one boy perform the dances they've taken classes for and practiced who knows how many times that I'm not really as uncoordinated as I think I am.

When it was finally over, we went back to my house and she had a bath to get the hairspray out and makeup off, although whatever lipstick my sister dredged up just wouldn't come off -- not through a cup of juice when we were getting ready, four hours of rehearsal incorporating absent-minded nail biting and finger sucking, or the aforementioned bath. We made grilled cheese sandwiches and hot chocolate and snuggled up on the couch to watch some HGTV and read some books until her mom came to pick her up.

I almost always have a great time with Lily, but yesterday was especially nice.
- posted by Lori @ 12:32:00 PM | permanent link | |