Maya had an awesome week at princess dance camp. Every day she was so excited to guess which princess would be there and to wear her ballet shoes.
Today was the recital to end the week.
This was what Maya looked like walking in to the performance…
And below behind princess Ariel you see what happened once she saw us.
She bawled and cried' “I want mommy”. My heart hit the floor. I should preface this by saying we were starting to suspect that she wasn’t feeling too great but I didn’t want her to miss her last day of dance camp so we gave it a shot. It nearly broke my heart watching her cry so I let her go for a few minutes before I waved her over and said she could come sit with us.
And here is where I attempt to explain the emotions that I went through. I was upset because she was upset. I was upset because I wanted her to dance with the other girls..not because I wanted her to perform but because I wanted her to have fun dancing with her friends. I was upset because I thought I am doing something wrong as a mom that she was so terrified to participate with her friends. I was upset because everyone came to see her dance and she didn’t. The thing is… that truly all I care about is that she is happy. All I cared about was that she had fun at camp this week and she did. I was torn between comforting her and helping her to try something that was a little outside of her comfort zone. Ugh parenting is hard.
Aunt Jenny being the crazy zany Aunt that she is, ran her up there and got her to at least stand up there with the other princesses.
Not happily mind you
She did get a little spin
The things is…that while she is not shy at all with us, she is shy with others and there was a room FULL of people watching. She is apprehensive in new situations and with people she doesn’t know. That is my girl and that is how she is and that is just fine with me.
So, end the performance, and we are heading home in the car. Maya starts screaming that her ear hurts. Cue the frantic call to the pediatrician because when she says her ear hurts that means ear infection. My saint of mother meets me at the pediatrician to chase the one year old that NEVER stops moving. Maya slept in my lap for 45 minutes while we waited for the dr (after the nurse gave us the magic motrin medicine). And of course, it was confirmed after the torturous ear examination that she did indeed have a badly infected ear. We left to get medicine and whole chain of other murphy’s law events followed after that I swear can only happen to me (my mother even wondered when we entered the twilight zone). Maya miraculously bounced back with the magic motrin.
And she asked if she could go to dance camp tomorrow and told me that her favorite part was the flowers that Mimi and Pops and Jenny gave her.
She will always be my sweet little princess
