Ballerina Girl

Several of my friends are currently pregnant.  One is definitely having a girl and at least two friends should find out soon.  It reminded me of when I was pregnant and was SO confident I was having a boy that I just stared at the ultrasound technician when she informed me otherwise.  My father-in-law was so dumbfounded he just quietly whispered, "Well, I hope she likes camouflage."  (she does, for the record).  But girlfriend is still a girly girl at heart. 

Despite my best efforts to prevent my daughter from falling into any gender stereotypes, we enrolled her in dance last fall.  Not surprisingly, she loved it.  She recently had her official recital, in an actual auditorium, at a local high school.  I will warn you that there are a ridiculous number of pictures associated with this event.  

Before the recital, Morgan offered to show us her ballet positions.  I know there are several positions in ballet, but I have no idea what they are.  I never took dance; I dropped out of gymnastics when I was six and all I really remember about that was that my underwear was constantly hanging out of my leotard.

Once Morgan finished her demonstration, it was showtime.  We said our goodbyes and she headed off to wait with the other dancers. 

And then the performance began.  Of course, I was instantly crying.  At one point, David leaned over and said, "You know Morgan's not even up there yet, right?"  But it didn't matter - Those little dancers were so precious and so brave.  I thought for sure our kid would be the one yelling for me, but she didn't even seem to notice that a room of several hundred people were watching her every move.  She was a dancer, and she just wanted to twirl.

After the performance, the girls were given small trinkets and bouquets of flowers. Morgan was beaming.

And as I looked at my daughter, so poised and so confident, I couldn't help but reflect on how different things would have been if we'd had a boy - he just would have looked so strange in a tutu. Congratulations, my little ballerina girl - we are so proud.