A STAR IS BORN

For weeks we have been talking about Stella's upcoming dance recital. She was super excited and talked about it all the time. She invited everyone more than once and probably more than twice. When I asked her about her dances she seemed to not know them at all so I was sort of concerned. I should have known better though because even though she was clueless at times, she, my friends, was born for the stage. The only tears we saw were the ones at the end when she realized she didn't have any more dances to perform.

When we first got there, lots of the girls were playing on the stage and she wasted no time getting in on the action. She looked adorable too with her tiny touch of lipstick and blush that she applied herself.

Her first dance was a tap number to "Holly Jolly Christmas." Her favorite part of the dance is the "Oh by golly" where she swings her arm and sings "Oh by golly!" My favorite part was how she didn't let any of those other girls kick her out of center stage.

The ballet number was to "Suzie Snowflake." I was relieved when the tall redheaded girl decided to push the girl to her left down instead of Stella who was to her right. Not that I wanted anyone to get pushed down, but I know Stella would have been so upset and it would have totally ruined her recital experience. Thankfully, she was oblivious to the physical abuse that kept going on right next to her until one girl finally fell down. Stella just smiled and waved and made sure she was in the front and middle again.

At the end of that dance, Ava was able to come up and dance with Stella. I think this was Stella's favorite part by far.

As she walked off the stage, she burst into tears crying: "I want to do it again Momma." So she was kind of rude to everyone that came up to her to tell her she did a good job. Such is the emotional roller coaster life of the performer who leaves her entire soul on the stage for her audience. Plus, there is certainly no time to be nice to the little people when you are the star.

I managed to get some post-recital pictures of her smiling by promising that if she smiled she could go back up on the stage with Ava and dance. It totally worked--she is a sucker (and so am I).

Congratulations Stella Marie on you very first dance recital!