crawling up the mountain

with the school year ending, there're lots of recitals to reharse for and attend. it was big time this year for my princess. she's in her last year of pre-school and the teachers want veteran students to show off their skills in a more complete way. so she performed in music and ballet shows, and in a school recital. she had lots of fun in all of them and each was a fantastic experience in its own unique way.

the music show joined by all private institutes of the city was a sign of her joy at music-making. i know she has a very cool voice and had already considered enrolling her in one of the choirs for kids downtown last year. she's very at ease with singing. but she already takes dance classes twice a week and joining a choir means two extra activities a week, which is honestly too much. even if she'll be out of primary at 1pm and have lots of time off, she still has to be a kid and play. 

moreover, i really want her to continue her dance lessons. i believe they're extremely important because they can teach a child self-confidence, self-discipline, poise and grace. a child introduced to dance at an early stage like alice will likely develop a love of the arts and a passion for rhythm and movement. it gave alice a tremendous boost. she began with creative movement at 3, then this year she switched  to structured dance lessons and she loves it. coreographies and costumes were much more elaborate and complex this year at the annual recital, which gave her enourmous pride and motivation to go on.

in the school final recital there was a bit of acting too. each year they chose a theme, and this year it was all about tales. the easiest way to assign a role to each child and make him feel special with his favorite character (alice played jasmine). 

ali's teachers are young and creative, they chose very modern musics and put up together trendy dances. last year the bigger kids performed in thriller by michael jackson. this years the kids debuted in the blues brothers' 'everybody needs somebody'. needless to say, it was heartbreaking. i cried the whole time!!

one thing is sure: ballet, singing or acting, alice is never frightned, she participates willingly. i noticed that for kids who have a high skill level, the attraction of a recital may be high. she plays with gust oand joy. she showed no sign of pre-recital emotions, she was so very excited and thrilled at the idea of performing. she was just carried away once befor the dance recital, but it resolved with opening up. she just needed to understand it's pure fun, not a chore. 

okay, i've really gotten mushy in this post, but that's one of the benefits of being a blogger! these are the years that mark year's progress and are the times that make all of us proud of our children. i prefer action to speach, but with my daughter i want her to be verbally reminded that SHE is special and that i know it. that's what i missed as a child, and i don't want to repeat my parents' mistakes.

so, congratulations alice, you're an amazing kid and i'm yelling it out loud. I'M PROUD OF YOU, BELLAAAA! :))))) 

 graduated from pre-school with proud daddy

i'll always be there for you, you have only just started to climb the huge education mountain but mommy is here. so keep up the good work done sweetie. you rock!