Pixie takes the stage

Garry and I had a "first girl" moment on Thursday when Lexi danced in her first ballet recital.  Twenty-four hours earlier we weren't really sure she would make it to the stage.

Lexi had been excited for weeks.  We counted down the last few days by the number of "sleeps" remaining until the recital.  I dropped Lexi off for ballet class on Wednesday and she ran right in, anxious to put on her recital costume.  Ninety minutes later I arrived to collect Lexi at the end of an extended class.  She was screaming in her teacher's lap and clutching her left ear.  Two hours later I had antibiotics for two raging ear infections, and Lexi looked like this:

Sad, right?

Luckily for us, a cocktail of amoxicillin, Motrin, and numbing ear drops had a magical effect.  Lexi's personality and energy and excitement returned, and once again we geared up for the recital.  I fixed Lexi's hair into the tiniest bun you've ever seen, pinned on a sparkly headband, applied a teensy bit of cheek color, and painted her fingernails.  She was thrilled.

But then she had to stand on the stage.  We knew that trouble was ahead when she shied away from group pictures. Once the recital began, Miss Amy, the teacher, introduced each of the little ballerinas.  Lexi sat sullenly on the side of the stage, glued to the wall, and there she stayed as the rest of her classmates danced and spun and waved their fairy wands.  We could see a mixture of fear and sadness in Lexi's eyes as she missed out on the fun of performing.  We were sad for her, too, but tried to encourage her from our seats in the audience.

Lexi wasn't alone, though; other ballerinas had their own awkward moments.  One (the teacher's daughter) had a big fit in the middle of a dance.  Another didn't like where she was waiting for her turn to happen.  And another found great pleasure in licking her feet. The recital itself was very low-key, and the parents in the audience all laughed together at the darling dancers, regardless of their poise or participation.

Finally, during the last number of the night, Lexi summoned her courage and joined her ballerina friends.  She twirled and leaped and pointed her toes at the right moments, and, at the end, she gave a beautiful curtsy and smiled.

We are so glad that stage fright didn't get the best of our little pixie.  She's such a beautiful ballerina.