Twinkle Baby

Like many little girls, at some point awhile back Sydney started to ask if she could be in a dance class. She loves to wear her leotards and tutus around the house and put on little shows for us, so when I stumbled upon a Groupon for a 10 week class at a studio close to our house, we decided to give it a go. I was thrilled with how her first "Twinkle Babies" class went! Sydney is a bit unpredictable in new environments and organized classes, but she did really well and loved it. It seemed like it was going to be a great experience. Week 2 went well, week 3 was fine, but somewhere around 4 or 5 she started to get shy, and then she was reluctant to participate, and by week 10 she outright refused to do anything. Ahhh, Sydney. I did bring my real camera on the last day of class, but pictures of her refusing to dance wouldn't have been that cute, so here are a few through the glass, from my phone, during some of the better weeks.

Our sweet daughter is so many wonderful things: she is fun to be with, funny, compassionate, obedient (kind of), creative, intelligent, encouraging, and a fantastic sister. One of my favorite things about Sydney is how she freely gives out compliments all the time. Several times a day she will tell me how she likes something I'm wearing, something I did, made, said, etc. She does this with pretty much everybody in her life. Just tonight, as soon as Gilby walked in from work, Sydney said, "I like your clothes, Daddy, I really like your shirt." She is also the biggest cheerleader for her brothers, encouraging each of them in their accomplishments often before I do. We are so blessed by her.

But Sydney is also very particular. I'm sure I've already shared about her haircut boycott that is still going strong, how she won't wear jeans, how she refuses to let me do her hair, how she remembers everything so that I can't move her little piles of "really important" junk things that take over our house, and how her particularity carries over into situations like said dance class. Kind of like how she refused to put her name tag up on the door at her preschool-weeschool class last year even though every other kid happily did it (making me the only parent that had to get up in front of the class to do it with her), and how she only got into the pool in one out of four swimming lessons this past fall. We're thankfully past the public tantrum stage (mostly), but she will still make a decision and stick to it regardless of any consequences or rewards. We don't let her get away with much, and she does get disciplined, but she will think through a decision and knowingly choose the consequence over the choice I wish she would make (like participate in a fun dance class). I'm actually impressed by her persistence, and hope that it will someday translate into an independent thinking, strong leader, but for now it drives me a bit batty. She must get it from her father because I was certainly never like that, just don't ask my parents about it! Of course we love our girl just as she is...but for now, dance classes have been sidelined.