About That Recital

Going into this year's dance recital, Alexis was ready to bring the thunder. She spent hours poring over hairstyle ideas on pinterest. She carefully laid out her costumes three times. She even tried on her jazz shoes, which she hasn't worn in months because everything in life is better without shoes, and decided they were too small.

That's a fun thing to tell your mom at 10:00 the night before your recital. For real. It's fun because your mom will laugh and laugh and laugh as she tells you to figure out how to cram your toes into your shoes because NOPE. No new shoes for you, child!

She did get fancy hair, though. Just to make it interesting, I didn't use any of the pinterest ideas Alexis found. Instead, I hit up YouTube and came across something SUPER easy. I mean, you guys, this took about 15 minutes. That includes 12 minutes of holding down the hairspray button so that I could turn the kid's hair into a helmet that will never move.

All of that preparation led to a minor problem -- we were ready too early before the recital. In fact, Alexis was backstage and ready to go a full half hour before she was required to be.

I'll wait.

It's okay.

I know a few of you just passed out from the shock of hearing that *I* was early getting anywhere. I assure you, it does sometimes happen. It just doesn't happen very often.

All that extra time led to Alexis finding some extra butterflies in her stomach. The were angrily fluttering about and making her super nervous, so I set up wifi on my old phone and handed it to the kid. There's nothing that sucks up all of her focus quite like Instagram. Within seconds, she went from OMG SO NERVOUS to asking everyone she could find to be in a selfie with her.

And with that, I had all the entertainment I needed for the next several hours.

Alexis spent all of her backstage moments posting photos to Instagram or texting me to report on every little thing that happened. Her play-by-play was really very fantastic.

I suppose her performances were pretty fantastic as well. Maybe. (Definitely.)

After the show, Alexis was walking on clouds as she excitedly reported everything she hadn't already texted and some of what she had texted. All the words. ALL OF THEM. There were no words left when she was done because she used them all.

And it was fantastic.

(It's a good thing I have figured out how to enjoy things like dance recitals because I'm pretty sure I'm stuck with them forever.)

Dance Dance Dance

There are problems that are born of blogging daily for nine years. One of them is that there really isn't a summary of Alexis' relationship with dance. There are pieces here and there that are part of the puzzle, but you can't see the whole picture from where you're sitting. So, before I write about this weekend's recital, I feel like I should start at the beginning.

The beginning puts us way in the past when Alexis was the age that Mila is now. Nine years can do a lot to change a kid, and HOOBOY has dance played a part in it. Way back when Alexis was a baby, she was shy.

So shy.

Painfully, horribly, terribly shy. It was the sort of shy that's a problem and not just something a kid will outgrow. It was the sort of shy that had to be addressed.

So I did. As soon as she was walking, I enrolled Alexis in a Mommy and Me gymnastics class so that she would have time amongst "strangers" with the mom safety net nearby. That Mommy and Me gymnastics class lasted about a year before Little Miss Alexis asked to be a ballerina. She wanted to DANCE.

Which, fine. The only problem was that dance required that she go into the classroom by herself. Without me. All by herself.

It didn't always go well. She wanted to try most weeks, but many weeks she would spend a good portion of the class crying or clinging to me. But, we stuck with it. I was careful to never get mad at her and only encourage participation. Slowly, so slowly, it worked. Eventually she even managed to go to the front of the room to participate in the end of year show.

Part of the reason I managed to stay patient with the slow transformation was because Alexis was always dancing. Always. She practiced ballet positions in line at the grocery store. She spent hours doing tap routines all through the living room. As a toddler, Alexis danced her way through her days. All day, every day.

Then, when Alexis was four, we moved. I no longer wanted to drive all across town to The Little Gym so she could take the "for fun" dance classes that allowed me to be in the room when Alexis needed it. So, I sought out a studio I thought would be good and ended up picking one sort of near our house.

On the first day of Legit Dance Class, I walked Alexis to the door, told her that I wasn't allowed in the classroom, reminded her to have fun, and walked away. It never occurred to Alexis to question my message -- she walked into that room and never once had a meltdown over me not being close by. There were a lot of other factors, including a long talk with the teacher in advance of that day. We basically just created a situation where Alexis had to decide between dance and me.

She picked dance.

And it was fantastic.

For four years, Alexis was a happy little dancer. But then, suddenly, she wasn't. Last year in the month before her recital, Alexis began BEGGING to quit. I told her she had to finish out the year and then we would talk, but she was really very certain. She wanted to quit. She was so steadfast in her decision that I didn't bother to enroll her for the fall.

But then the recital arrived. Alexis fell back in love with dance during that performance.

Which, fine. Fantastic, even! But, it was a little late to register for fall. Some classes were full, some didn't work with our schedule, there were all sorts of challenges. In the end, I let Alexis pick a schedule that had her quitting ballet and tap. She was sure she wanted to be done with them forever and ever because jazz and gym is her jam. So, whatever.

I let her quit ballet and tap.

Do you want to guess how long it took before Alexis started fussing at me for "letting her" quit ballet and tap? "You know me better than anyone! You should have known I didn't REALLY want to quit!"

::headdesk::

I didn't add the classes back to her schedule since they didn't really fit anyway. Alexis whined. Alexis kept on with her other classes.

Alexis flourished.

If you ask Alexis what she wants to be when she grows up, right now she'll say she wants to be a dance teacher. She's all in.

And it's amazing.

Nine years can do a lot to change a kid, so there's no telling what Alexis will think of dance when she's 18. But right now, today, it's her most favorite thing in the world.

Emma's Caribbean Cloud Cupcakes

This recipe came from my friend Emma, who is mostly known as being the one person who was named Emma long before Ross, Rachel, and half of the internet named their kid Emma. That's what she says, anyway. She's a very lovely person, just perhaps a tiny bit bitter that when she goes anywhere kid-friendly, she thinks half the world is talking to her.

They should, by the way. She's super smart. She's the kind of smart that knows about tricks like using a can of crushed pineapple with cake mix and turning it into something super fancy and amazing. She's smart about other things, too, but that's the one that has my skirt flying these days because YUM.

Alexis said she wants to kiss these cupcakes.

Annnnd then she did.

Emma's Caribbean Cloud Cupcakes

1 package angel food cake mix (I used Dunkin Hines brand)
1 20-oz can crushed pineapple

For the frosting:
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
1 8-oz package cream cheese, room temperature
1 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon coconut extract

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line your cupcake pan with paper liners. I got 30 cupcakes out of this recipe, so plan accordingly.

2. In a large mixing bowl, combine the angel food cake mix and the pineapple. Seriously, the entire contents of the pineapple can. That's it. Mix at low speed for a few seconds then high speed for one minute. Don't overmix it or it will de-fluff.

3. Fill your cupcake liners about 4/5 of the way full. These very barely rise.

4. Bake at 350 degrees for 20-22 minutes or until lightly browned on top. Let them rest in the pan for a few minutes after baking then transfer to a wire rack to cool.

5. Meanwhile, it's time to make some frosting. Throw the butter, cream cheese, brown sugar, and coconut extract in a medium bowl. Mix at high speed until well-blended.

6. Once the cupcakes are cool, introduce them to the frosting. They will be best friends in no time.

7. You can garnish with a strawberry or whatever makes you happy.