Lessons in Motherhood

Hailey is all about dancing.  Some of it was probably inspired by the countless hours of Olympic figure skating that she watched.  I don’t know what tipped me of to that connection, maybe the fact that she runs around jumping in the air and saying she’s doing a triple toe.  She also learned the meaning of the word “graceful” the other day, so she’s practicing some form of graceful which requires her to spin around and fall on the floor with a thump.  One time that thump was her nose hitting the floor, and I thought that would be our first trip to the ER right there.

Regardless, there’s a lot of dancing in our house, which I strongly encourage.  I was planning on starting her in dance classes ASAP. Apparently though, I don’t need to find dance classes because the other night we had this little exchange:

Hailey: Mommy, can you call the ballet?

Mommy: I suppose I could call the ballet.  What do you want me to tell them?

Hailey: You could tell them that I know how to ballet.

Mommy: And then what are they going to do, let you dance on the stage with the ballerinas.

Hailey: Yes

Now, this seems like an innocent enough conversation, but I’m a bit of a worrier.  Did you know that about me?  I’m a worry wart?  Yeah, I get it from my mother who is the queen of worrying about things that she can’t control.  So, anyway, this conversation got me wondering if maybe we are giving her too much positive reinforcement.  Maybe we need to find a little more balance between “Your dancing is beautiful” and “You look like a gorilla choking on a banana peel and falling on the floor.”  I’m going to have to consider what the right words are that will encourage her to keep trying, but also let her know that there is much work to be done before you don a tutu and some point shoes.  Hmm…any suggestions on that?