We were warned by her teachers that 1) Ella might not do the “hand motions” at the Christmas program and 2) that Ella MIGHT decide to pull up her shirt. But that it was cute. Her teacher even said that if Ella chose to bare her belly, we’d just have a one-woman show. No problem.
When kids are 2, they just don’t expect much, and that’s for the best.
That said, as parents we like to think we have absolutely any control over the whole thing. Which is why this morning when I was getting Ella ready for school so she could perform in her first Christmas show, I flashed back to when Zoe performed on the same stage for the first time.
Just 2 short years ago, as I got Zoe ready, I made a last minute decision to take a decorative reindeer antler headband from a gift we had gotten and put it on her cute little head. She was adorable. Unfortunately, between leaving the house and getting on the stage, she broke one of those antlers and it was dangling by the time we saw her again.
I tried to patch it up, to no avail, tried to talk her out of it, with also no luck, and so Zoe spent a good chunk of the Christmas show fiddling with her antler while everyone else was cheerfully singing. She wasn’t 2 years old, she was four, but still, I remember.
So I was determined that Ella was NOT going to wear a headband of any sort and talked her into the cute pony tails that mommy likes. Then, at the last minute, I decided to give her a cute red skirt to wear over her holiday pants. She loved it. She TWIRLED AND TWIRLED – she said, “this is for twirling”. What could possibly go wrong?
Not to spoil the surprise, but remember how we were warned she had a tendency to want to show her belly when on stage? Just imagine how fun a skirt might be…
Sure, she wasn’t alone (and who knows whether or not she started the trend), but man. All I can hope is that she has a future in infomercials for ridiculously adaptable clothing like that Suzanne Somers 3-in-1 poncho thing.
A gal can dream.
And yes, I will likely never learn that I can’t control things. Oh well.
Emphasis on Joy 
I’m impressed with how steady you held the camera. My hand would’ve been shaking. I also like how she was kind of making eye contact with you the whole time she did her skirt-based magic trip. Definitely your kid.
HA! Bart thought the same thing (that she was looking at me) but I was actually hiding behind a huge rectangular post with only my arm sticking out and watching on the screen, so I’m not sure who she was looking at but it was someone in front of me? Regardless, I have no doubt she’s my kid…