First Day of Dance Class

For weeks Leah has been telling us how bad she wanted to go to dance class. Now that I am home on maternity leave, I figured it would be the perfect time to sign her up for a daytime dance class. (I never get to bring her to any daytime activities so I was excited to do so). We went and bought her some new leotards, dance skirts and ballet shoes. She loved he new 'costumes' as she called them and would often ask to wear them around the house.

The class we signed her up for is called "Express Start 2" and is geared towards 2 and 3 year olds. It teaches beginning tap, jazz and ballet and helps improve basic motor skills, agility and rhythm. In the days leading up to the class, it was all Leah could talk about. She couldn't wait to go to dance class. We told her that I would be dropping her off and she would have to listen to her teacher. She seemed to get it. (This is a class that the parents don't stay with the child. There is a back waiting room the parents can sit and watch through a small window). I was a little nervous how Leah would do without me there and just dropping her off.

On the day of her class, she was so happy and wanted to put on her dance clothes. She even let me put her hair in a ponytail (which she NEVER lets me do). We hopped in the car and were on our way. Once we got to dance class, she seemed excited and was dancing around. She asked where her teacher was (we were 15 minutes early).

Shortly after, other little girls started showing up for the class and then the teacher, Miss Amber arrived. She gathered the girls in the dance studio. I walked Leah in there and as soon as I started walking away, everything went downhill from there. She immediately followed me. I walked her back to the girls and she started getting upset and said she didn't want to be at dance class. Miss Amber tried to get her to come back and was really good with her. Each time I tried to leave to go back to the waiting room, she was freaking out. (I also had Mason with me which made it a bit more difficult - luckily he slept the whole time, otherwise it would have been a bigger disaster). The teacher recommended we stand in the back and let Leah watch for a bit and maybe she would eventually want to join the girls. Leah made me hold her and she was clinging to me like no tomorrow. It was not good.

At one point during the class, the teacher brought out these cute butterfly wings and magic wands for all of the girls to wear. When Leah saw this, she was definitely interested. She did leave my side to go get some wings and a wand. I thought maybe we were making progress. Nope. As soon as she got it, she ran right back over to me and just wouldn't participate. Two of the other little girls in the class even tried to get her to come over by them. Leah just kept telling me how much she wanted to go home. Some of the girls in the class were way younger than Leah and they all had their acts together. They were having fun and listening to Miss Amber. I kept telling Leah to watch how much fun they were having and asked her if she wanted to join them. She didn't budge. After 45 minutes, the class was over. I was a bit disappointed at how Leah reacted. I thought for sure she was going to have a great time. All I can do is take her back next week and try again. I don't want to give up just yet. This is Leah's very first dance class, so maybe she just needs to get used to how things work. I'll give it a few more classes to see if we can make progress. If not, we are signed up for a parent/tot gymnastics class in November that hopefully she will enjoy better with us there.