"I'll Never..."

Yeah, famous last words. Did you have anything you said, "I'll never" about your kids? And then you have kids and they go right out the window. Here's two of mine. First, I'll never send my kids to preschool. Why would I? I didn't go to preschool. Did they even have preschool back then? AND I started kindergarten when I was four, was near the top of the class, won Spelling Bees, was in the pentathlon and generally did a pretty good job in school. Who the heck needs preschool? Well, then I met my friend Christina, an early childhood educator. She loves teaching preschool and, seriously, who wouldn't want to spend lots of time with her? She's just fun and has a genuine love for kids. She told me years ago (because I'm such a planner when it comes to these poor kids...always thinking years ahead of where they're actually at!) that Evan would probably enjoy preschool for the social aspects, not so much academically. And now Evan has grown up and I realized you know what? Evan would enjoy preschool. They do lots of cool stuff and he could have some time with friends and why the heck not?!?! If you've ever had a conversation with me about preschool, you're probably laughing right now because I was so passionate on this subject. But, yes, Evan started preschool this week. And, of course, he loves it. And, yes, Christina is his teacher. And, no, I don't have any first day of preschool pictures because, well, no new clothes, no backpack...looks like the same old Evan from any other day.

The second I'll never thing was sending Maren into a ballet class. Now, this was not so much mine, but more Michael's. You see, I spent most of my life after school at the studio, learning to dance. And my sisters spent that time at home observing my mom cooking and doing motherly things, learning how to take care of a home and family. And now that we all realize that I missed out because I don't have amazing cooking skills like my sisters and my mother, Michael kind of resents ballet a tad. Well, a lot, unless he's joking around with me a little. I don't know. Sometimes it's hard to tell how serious he is about the matter. And sometimes I think about the things I missed out on in life like getting together with friends, dances and other stuff like that. Side note: In fact, my junior prom was the same night as a performance of A Midsummer Night's Dream. My boyfriend at the time, who I would've gone to the prom with, of course, bought a suit and came to the performance instead. I thought that was awfully nice. Anyway, I wouldn't change all that ballet stuff for anything. Being a ballet dancer is just part of who I am and it's a part that I really, really love. And I have amazing memories of ballet and...well, I just wouldn't change it.

So, anyway, Maren has had no egging on by me about dancing at all. As my mom says, 'it must be in the genes.' Because she LOVES to dance. Well, I've come to realize in the last little while what a drag it is to be the second child (never realized, of course, since I was the oldest). She's been dragged to Evan's swimming classes and she really wants to take swimming classes. She loves to swim. But she can't until she's three because otherwise I'd have to be in the water with her. Won't work with Parker. And now she's being dragged to Evan's soccer practices. And she'd love to play soccer or at least just kick the ball around. But I keep her off the field. Poor thing. So when she told me one day, "I just want, want, want to dance!", I couldn't resist. I found out that a girl in my stake teaches a dance class for preschool-age kids and would take Maren since she is potty-trained. We searched high and low for shoes small enough for her little feet and had everything ready for her first day. To say she loves it would be an understatement. She is by far the youngest one in there but she pays great attention, follows directions and does a generally good job of following along. On the way home after her first class she said, "Thank you, Mom, to taking me to dance class." She was so appreciative. I loved it! And I remembered about my sister, Danica, who would go with me and my mom to ballet class when she was two. I guess my mom couldn't keep her off the ballet floor, she wanted to dance with us so badly, and my teacher finally told her to let her dance. She danced in her little tennis shoes. I've got a picture. I'll have to scan it in and put it on here tomorrow or something.

So, have I learned my lesson about saying "I'll never" when it comes to stuff about my kids? Probably not. But I'll definitely be more careful about it. I now realize that I can't now determine things about my kids that are years off. Having kids is fun...it teaches you a lot.