getting the pointe

My oldest has reached a monumental point in her ballet career. Last week she passed the test to get her pointe shoes. While I have some mixed feelings about the timing of all this (the teacher suggested that some parents whose daughters earn pointe shoes in the spring choose to make them wait until the fall to actually get the shoes), I am extremely proud. Not just because she passed the test, but because of the dedication she has shown over the last few months in working toward this goal.

Sydney has never been one to work too hard toward anything. She is one of those people who seems to have a natural affinity for most things she tries, thus negating the need to work too hard right away. Her track record up to this point has been that once she reaches the point where she might have to actually expend some effort to excel at a given skill, she loses interest and moves on to the next thing. It has long been my wish for her that she would love something enough to really work at it.

Ballet was never Sydney's dream. In fact, the day she started ballet class we were actually there for her sister. After watching the younger kids' class and learning there was a class for her age level starting next, Syd insisted on giving it a try. The teacher acquiesced to a trial lesson, even though we hadn't come prepared with tights, leotard, or the proper shoes. So Syd approached the barre in her school uniform and socks and I've been paying for 2 kids to attend ballet class ever since. A few years later, the teacher from that day told me that she will never forget Sydney's first ballet lesson.

So it's five years later and Syd attends 3 classes a week, even "helping" as a role model for the younger kids' class. The harder the techniques get, the more she seems determined to master them. She started taking the pointe test a couple of months ago, mainly as a means of having her teacher show her the techniques she needed to work on. I think she has taken the pointe test at every class for the past month. Last Wednesday night I went to pick her up and found her to be the last one in the studio, asking to take the pointe test yet again. The teacher agreed and, lo and behold, she passed! I've not seen my child so excited about something in a while. She came home and burned up the phone lines, calling everyone she could think of. I barely got her into bed.

So it seems she's found something she loves enough to work at. She often complains of sore legs and feet after class, but she never talks about quitting. I know the pointe shoes will present a new level of difficulty, and I think they may be more frustrating to learn to use properly than she realizes. But I am happy to see her finally buy-in to the process of becoming better through determination and effort. It's a lesson she's needed to learn for a long time, and one that will serve her well in the future.

Happy Birthday

8 years ago tonight our family was completed. Tess entered the world and took her rightful place as "the baby." Over the last 8 years, she has been the one to challenge us with her quirky requirements (like her quest for the perfect sock placement, her need for "soft" clothing and wide shoes so her toes can move, and her aversion to hairbrushing - just to name a few), antagonize and yet idolize her sister, and melt our hearts with her sweet, loving spirit. She is a homebody, a reader and thinker, and a tenderhearted, sensitive girl.

It is hard to believe that 8 years can pass so quickly. Happy Birthday, my sweet baby.