Little Ballerina

Ava continues to LOVE ballet.  My heart swelled tonight as I watched her in class.  She oozes happiness in ballet class.  It's awesome to watch her being pure Ava.  She is truly in her element.  She loves the music and the movement and the shoes and the ballet positions.  She has really improved in her balance and strength, and is a confident leader in class.  They have started practicing for Swan Lake in June, and she is ecstatic.
On the way home, I told her the story of when she had just turned 3, and we went to the dance studio for the first time to check it out (we had just moved to OR).  She cried all the way home because she wanted to stay and dance!  I took her back for a trial class that week, and she clammed up and wouldn't dance.  She sat in my lap the whole time!  It only took one time to observe, and she was hooked!  She, of course, thought this was a funny story and added, "Now I love ballet and I love painting!"  She is truly my creative girl. 
Recall that she recently did an "Earth Dance" for her Earth project at school.  She has a boy dominant pre-school class.  Yesterday, her teacher, Madeline, told us they (the boys) were captivated by Ava's dance.  I think her words were, "It was the first time that everyone was still and you could hear a pin drop for the whole dance.  The whole class was in awe of Ava."   We feel the same way pretty much everyday. :)