Saturday, October 29, 2011

Halloween Dancers

Morgan and Piper's sweet little dance studio had a Halloween "Performance" for us on Friday. All the kids wore their costumes and had a brief class. Then they got to play some special games with Teacher Michelle. At the end of class we got to see their tap dance they'd been practicing for a few weeks. I don't know what got in to Morgan and Piper, but they paid attention so well and did more of the actual dance than they ever did before. I have the actual videos of the dances, but have just realized I need to get a wireless router before I can upload to YouTube. They are too large to email from my iPhone, and the 3G only goes so far to get it on YouTube. Hopefully I can do that this week. Until then, photos will have to suffice. Note: the pics from Piper's class are from my phone...and mu Dad took the gorgeous ones of Morgan's class. Thanks Dad!


All little tapping at the end

She actually stood nicely at the barre and participated! 

 Speaking of participating...look at Morgan go! (Piper in the background)


Look! She's even standingon her "pink tape"!

 And a pose!

And another pose! Amazing!

Sunday, October 23, 2011

Piper's Dance Class

We were finally able to start Piper in her own dance class on Friday! We had trouble finding shoes in her size as she has smaller feet for her age. It turned out they were bigger than we thought (though still small in comparison). So, the size 7 shoes (the smallest ones they have at Payless Shoes, where most of the kids get their dance shoes)...are still big, but not too bad. I moved Morgan up a size in her tap shoes, so Piper is now wearing hers and the itty bitty ballet shoes are sooo adorable! Here's Piper in her class!

 Most of the kids are just fascinated by Teacher Michelle. She wears super pretty ballet outfits and tutus. Piper wanted to hold her hand while they "chasse'd" across the floor.

 Turning with her arms "above" her head.

The girls' favorite part of class is the "wand" dance they do to a song from the Tinker Bell movie. We just got this movie, so both Morgan and Piper recognize the song.


Let me know if this video plays okay. I had to reduce the size of it a little when I emailed it from my phone. It's more of the "wand' dance. I'm amazed how Piper mostly follows along and listens to direction.

Speaking of "listening to direction," it will be an adjustment the next few weeks because this was the first week we tried Piper's class, which is followed by Morgan's class. It was two loooong hours in that dance studio. It was hard for me to get Morgan to understand that the first class was only Piper's and that she'd have to wait for her own class. I finally distracted her with the iPad (loaned from the WSU study). Unfortunately it distracted another child in Piper's class who didn't feel like participating, oops! I was able to get that child back into the class though (most parents don't stay for the class, so her Mom wasn't there).

Another way I was able to help Morgan understand when her class was going to start was telling her that when her "friends" got there it was time. Specifically we talked about a girl Morgan is fascinated with..." Kai Lan." Yes, there is a pretty little Asian girl in Morgan's class with the same name as the animated character on Nick Jr. I'm pretty certain Morgan thinks she's the same person. So...when the kids' in Morgan's class arrived, including Kai Lan, they gathered around Teacher Michelle. Morgan got as close to Kai Lan as she could... then Kai Lan moved as FAR away from Morgan as she could. Honestly it broke my heart. This is where it starts, people! I was grateful Morgan didn't keep following her and really didn't noticed how Kai Lan pretty much shunned her, but it really hurt my heart. Later in class there was a part where the girls lied down on the floor in a sort of spoke pattern. Morgan was the only one not in the circle. Another little girl noticed and said "Morgan, come here!" Morgan turned around looked at the girl, smiled, and joined the group. Yippee! That is the kind of girl Morgan needs as a friend. One who wants her to be a part of the group, not outside it.

Whew, it takes a lot out of me physically and emotionally, but they both love their "dance class." As long as the teachers says Morgan is doing okay, we'll stay. Hopefully as she gets more in tune with the routine, she'll be able to pay attention better and better.

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

More Language Learning

Morgan has really come up with some interesting phrases lately. I'm not sure if this is scripted or spontaneous, but it's nice to hear anyway. It's funny, whenever Morgan says something new or interesting when both of us are in earshot, David and I look at each other as if to say "Did you hear what I heard?!" Then we laugh.

One thing she said last week was in response to me asking her to go upstairs to Quiet Time. She said "I want to stay down here for a little while." Ummm. "For a little while?" Really?

David told me a few days ago that he heard her say "actually" to begin a sentence. I hadn't heard this yet. Then we were at a friends' house this weekend...Morgan had just finished using the potty and said "Look, those are cars!" and pointed at their Cars (movie) shower curtain. Then she went up to the curtain, pointed at Lightning McQueen and said "Actually, this is a red car." People...do I say "actually" a lot? This has to be coming from somewhere.

Then finally, I got a message from her teacher today. I had called a few days ago to check in on how Morgan's been doing. She said Morgan's been doing great and seems really happy at school. Then she said yesterday Morgan came into her classroom, sat down at a table and said "I love this place!" OK, I wasn't there and I'm always skeptical of when I hear things like this through other people...but, why shouldn't I believe her? It's not a phrase I've ever heard coming out of Morgan's mouth, but I'll take it! I'm not sure if this jump in random language skills is due to anything in particular, but we like it!!

Monday, October 17, 2011

Our little whiner

Wow. I can't believe we're so far into October and I am so far behind on my blogging. I'm also currently hiding for a few minutes upstairs to escape our expert whiner, Morgan. The last few weeks she seems to have mastered this "skill" and is making us all nuts. Currently she is whining because it is Halloween and not Easter. I pulled out our box of Halloween/Fall decorations and found that I had also stashed some Easter items in there (can you say, mistake?!). Morgan was obsessed with hiding the plastic eggs last Easter, so as soon as she spied them it was as if Halloween did not exist. So now there is an awful lot of "I neeeeed the Easter eggs!" going on downstairs as I type this post. Even a fun game with Piper and some cute ghost candles could not deter her from the whining. Sigh.

So, I'll be trying my best to catch up with the goings-ons around here in the next week or so. We've got a good routine going now with school and Fall activities. Still busy, but less overwhelming.