Little Bitty Pretty One

Last year, sadly, Meili's dance recital did not go as I planned. I was so excited, but in the end, I was pretty frustrated with Josh because he had to work late, and then had to go back in to work after the recital was over, Meili did not want to listen to me the entire time, so rather than getting ice cream afterwards, she ended up in time out in her room. Overall, it was fine, and I try to block out some of those memories, because she really was a cute little dancer, but let's just say that I liked this year's experience much better.

 These pictures are from a performance that she did the week before at a Senior Center.

I thought she seemed pretty distracted the whole time, but when I went through the pictures again after, I realized that most of the time, she really is doing a dance move.

 These pictures are from her actual recital. I invited my parents, Josh's parents, my brother's family and my aunt. I was so worried that they would all be bored out of their minds, and they would see what I mean that Meili is a distracted dancer, and they would think it was a big waste of time. In the end, they may not have loved it, but I thought it went better than I ever would have imagined. 

 I have really loved Meili's dance teacher. I would say that her goal is probably not getting the girls ready for competitive dancing. But her goal is getting them to be comfortable with movement, and comfortable with themselves. She focuses on modesty in movement and clothing. And rather than spending a fortune on costumes that Meili will never wear again, she chooses fairly inexpensive things that Meili can wear over and over.

 This year, the recital was dedicated to dads, and Meili's teacher asked the dads of the girls in Meili's class to do one dance with them. The song that they danced to was called Cinderella and these are the words...

                                      She spins and she sways to whatever song plays

Without a care in the world

And I'm sitting here wearing the weight of the world on my shoulders

It's been a long day and there's still work to do

She's pulling at me saying "Dad I need you!

There's a ball at the castle and I've been invited

and I need to practice my dancin'

Oh please, Daddy, please!"

[Chorus:]So I will dance with Cinderella

While she is here in my arms

'Cause I know something the prince never knew

Oh I will dance with Cinderella

I don't want to miss even one song

'Cause all too soon the clock will strike midnight

And she'll be gone

[Verse 2:]She says he's a nice guy and I'd be impressed

She wants to know if I approve of the dress

She says, "Dad, the prom is just one week away

And I need to practice my dancin'

Oh please, Daddy, please!"

[Chorus:]So I will dance with Cinderella

While she is here in my arms

'Cause I know something the prince never knew

Oh I will dance with Cinderella

I don't want to miss even one song

'Cause all too soon the clock will strike midnight

And she'll be gone

She will be gone

[Verse 3:]But she came home today with a ring on her hand

Just glowing and telling us all they had planned

She says, "Dad, the wedding's still six months away 

but I need to practice my dancin'

Oh please, Daddy, please!"

[Chorus:]So I will dance with Cinderella

While she is here in my arms

'Cause I know something the prince never knew

Oh I will dance with Cinderella

I don't want to miss even one song

'Cause all too soon the clock will strike midnight

And she'll be gone

Meili and Josh are on the very end.

At the end of the dance, my sister-in-law said, "Don't cry or anything!" Are you kidding me? It was the sweetest thing EVER! The song lyrics were so sweet, and ended with the little girls waving good-bye to their dads from the side of the stage. (And Josh did a good job himself!)

Meili did another dance later on, to a song called Little Bitty Pretty One. It was also cute, and both Josh and I agreed that she did the best on both of her dances than we had ever seen her do. 

We tried to get pictures of our beautiful dancer afterward, but instead we got this silly goober! We love them both though!

Everyone but Josh's parents went to get ice cream when the recital was over. Josh and I couldn't say enough about how proud we were of Meili and how much more enjoyable this night was than last year!