Ballerina

I've determined that there are few things more beautiful than the sight of your own daughter doing ballet.  The music, the grace, and of course the love of your own daughter - all of these things make the parent-viewing process a real privilege and pleasure.  Tonight we all filed in, all the parents lining up along one wall to watch the children do their various positions and ballet maneuvers.

It was in this session more than anything that we saw some amazing growth in her learning.  Her form was much improved, her knowledge of each position called out was right on, and her attention span was fantastic.  We were so incredibly proud of her today.

There's just that one moment where you see everything click, and this was it.  We were extremely pleased with her education here - it wasn't just showing up and imitating the teacher.  Here, Madison has been learning the basics, and learning some things further than her Mommy actually learned when she was training under classes further north.  For an hour and fifteen minutes, we watched Madison and the other girls do their basic moves, with all the parents flashing cameras and taking videos with their cell phones.  Daddy brought the camera along this time, and that worked out - we got a few nice pictures of Madison in motion, or in the case above, goofing around!

We had a busy day today, with lots of piano, lots of homework too.  She has a new reading assignment where she reads out loud for one minute, and sees how far she can get.  It's a fluency drill, and oddly enough, the writing assignment is all about Paul Revere.  He seems to be the American hero of the moment!

We had only just enough time after that - in fact, we made time by extending bedtime a bit.  Madison watched the next episode of Spider-Man with us, and by that time was over with, we were all kind of ready for bed to be honest.  Part of this reason was the tail end of Daylight Saving Time, which started yesterday.  It's great in the morning, where we all feel like we're sleeping in an extra hour - and there's actual daylight around.  But at night, it seems later of course.

It was a rainy day today - big surprise.  The forecast is similar for the rest of the week, actually.  Our county among others is under a flood warning once again, although I think we're okay where we are at the house.  The big thing is the constant rain that pours down - it's been so frequent and gray and cooler.  But we'll give thanks for the rain while we have it regardless.  And that's what this month is all about, actually:  finding things to give thanks about.

That's all year round, of course.  But Madison has made sure we all have come up with something to be thankful for each day so far.  We're not sure where she got the idea for that this year - it might be something she remembers from last year.  Regardless, it's a pretty healthy habit.  She's been thankful for the house, and for family.  And of course, we're thankful for her too, our lovely little ballerina.