Her First Nutcracker

Sylvia performed in The Nutcracker this past weekend. She was a Baby Mouse (and darned if I couldn't get those mouse ears to stay up!). This was a great experience for her. They had three performances but unfortunately were only onstage approximately one minute each time. I got to stay and watch the second show and was impressed with how professional it seemed. The whole thing was very entertaining. Even the hours spent in the waiting room! I got in some good gabbing time with the other moms.

I'm not sure if this is unusual for little girls but Sylvia is passionate about dance, ballet in particular. We've been renting ballets from Netflix for over a year now and she watches them nearly every night. She's familiar with the Bolshoi, Coppelia, the Lilac Fairy, and several other ballet related things I had no clue about until I began feeding her interest. She loves classical music (she calls princess music) and will dance for hours in the living room. We recently rented The Nutcracker cd from the library (she's humming the music in her bed as I type) and she reenacts the whole thing, she knows who does what during each part of the music. I caught her dancing on pointe a week or two ago and, amid protest, quickly put an end to that. They say it's dangerous until their feet stop growing.

Today was a typical day around here. I tried to sleep in but Gus and Millie weren't having it so I was out of bed by 7:20am. We got ready, read some stories, and had breakfast. I spent too long on the computer catching up with email and between that, the laundry, and sundry other chores, lunch time came real fast. We got in a couple more stories, ate Tomato Soup from the freezer and sourdough rolls from the Fresh Market and then I took a quick rest on the couch. Next was some more story time, more cleaning for me while the kids got about 20 minutes of a Charlotte's Web dvd (I'm trying to peak Sylvia's interest so she'll listen to the novel on cd) and then off to the grocery store. We dropped off some Christmas presents to friends on the way home and stayed for a short visit. We left with a really awesome set of wooden blocks...a much appreciated score. For dinner it was broccoli and cheese (and dijon for the adults) quesadillas. I still can't believe my kids like broccoli.

They're in bed now and I'm off to finish sewing my niece's Christmas present.