Soccer and Dance!

A certain person in our house might be under the impression that football season is the big event around here in the fall, but he is heavily outnumbered these days!  Fall might mean football for Dad, but for the rest of us, it means soccer and dance! This year, for the very first time, Marina and Maddie are signed up for dance classes.  We've been holdouts, and honestly we have steadfastly avoided anything that might be construed as encouraging a fondness for cheerleading later in life (I was a high school coach for one painful year, I'll remind you, so my trepidation is unbelievably well founded), but the dance school here is so positive and so well attended and so CLOSE, that we gave it a go.  So, every Thursday it's over the YMCA for dance instruction.  Maddie has already announced she will not be performing in any sort of recital at the end of the year, so it's purely recreational.  Maddie also tumbles with other second graders on Friday.  We're keeping an eye on this (that is: tumbling as a gateway sport), but seriously,  I think it's safe to assume that Maddie is not going to be our cheerleader anyway.  It's those other two we've got to watch! Maddie was a little put off after her first class, as you can see in this picture.  That's because she felt she didn't do very well.  She likes to be very good at things and is sort of hard on herself when she finds herself at the foot of a learning curve.  It's a good (if uncomfortable) life lesson, though, so we're sticking with it! Our friend and neighbor Megan, who is also in the 2nd grade, has agreed to "tutor" Maddie at recess.  Megan says she has her own little dance club, and invited Maddie to "join", so it seems all will be well.  Very sweet.

Marina is too young to tumble, so she is signed up for soccer again.  She has a new team, since almost all her old team took this year off.  She was very excited for new friends!

Jessa is considering soccer in the spring.  For now though, she's enjoying these precious days as a preschooler with her preschool buddies.



 

Jessa is seriously enjoying her new preschool and the new preschool songs she's learning! Here's a Maddie filmed sample (a little bouncy- sorry about that):