Ellison Reese: Dress Rehearsal

The Big Week finally arrived. Ellison was thrilled to finally have her dance costumes, though I couldn't believe it when I saw the one costume we get to keep happened to be another Dorothy outfit! Thankfully our little biscuit makes the cutest Dorothy ever, but sheesh. Now we'll have another 123 Dorothy pics to add to our collection from Halloween. The week started off with a bang when we went to the dance studio to take her dance portraits. Oh. My. Word. What was literally supposed to be a 2 minute deal - stand there, smile and pose, one click, next person - ended up a 45 minute ordeal as I looked like a total freak, sweating profusely, with perspiration dripping down my forehead, begging and pleading with my STRONG WILLED 3 year old to just stand there and take ONE STINKING PHOTO! We stepped aside and waited so she could watch 3 other kids do it extremely quick, to warm her up to it. The first 35 minutes she wouldn't even stand in position, instead choosing to cling to me. Miss Angela, her teacher, even tried tactics. Finally, we got her to stand there without me, but she refused to pose, and refused to smile. The photographer actually said I needed to start traveling with him since I had such great kid tactics, but do you think they worked on my child?! Photographer Phil and I got real acquainted, since I resorted to pretending to tickle his armpits, falling all over the floor next to him, standing upside down, etc. Ellison had the look on her face where she totally wanted to burst into a smile, but bit the hell out of her lips so we wouldn't see it. Argh. After my body temperature went back down to normal, I realized that it's just fine. She's 3. The portrait we'll have will certainly bring back funny memories.

So I didn't know what to expect for the dress rehearsal or recital. Since Ellison was a little slacker in dance class the last several weeks, sometimes dancing and sometimes just standing there flopping around, I was betting that she would just stand there on stage and do nothing. She was WAY excited to get dressed in her costumes and have make-up on, but I figured that'd be the extent of it, and wondered in the back of my head if we were going to encounter disaster when the time came for her to leave me to go on stage.

She absolutely loved watching the show while waiting her turn, and was pretty hyped up. She left my side easily and excitedly, so anxious to get on stage. It was so cute, as soon as they came out she went right out front (she's normally in the middle 2nd row) and separated herself, then mostly watched the other girls with the look, "What the bloody heck are y'all doin'?", then would try to see me and Jonathan out in the audience.

She would join the other Dorothy's for some of the parts, though.

It was WAY adorable!!! I was the crazy parent beaming from ear to ear with tears in her eyes. The hilarious part is, as soon as she came back up to the balcony and I greeted her, she was grinning from ear to ear, jumping up and down, shouting, "I want to do it again, again, again!!!". Then it was time to change into her "Surfin' USA" outfit. She danced on the balcony to heart's content to all of the other songs playing while she waited.