Sunflowers & Dancing Shoes

This week marks Sammi's last

days of dance class. She is gearing up for her first dance recital on Friday on the stage of the historic Frauenthal Theater. What a treat!! I'm so excited for her and she is just thrilled to get all dolled up with makeup!!

And here she is....my own personal burst of sunshine...

Sammi has really come into her own this year. She's found her own interests, she's really doing well in dance class and her teacher was amazed at how much progress she made these last few months of preschool. She's learning self control (thank you God...you do hear prayers!!) and the hissy fits that have come to haunt our house are slowly disappearing. That doesn't mean that things are calm yet...likely they will never be while Sammi is involved, but we've come to appreciate her spirit (sometimes through gritted teeth).

Recently, after a particularly rough night, I asked Sammi why she has such crazy outbursts when she doesn't get her way. See, she is extremely stubborn, much like her two parents. She said "I don't know...I just can't get it all under control at once". I thought...I know that feeling! Between "end of year" school activities for the kids, the workload that is picking up for both Scott and I and all the fun activities that come with summer, I feel at times my head is spinning. How could I expect a four year old to have it "under control" when I don't seem to know which end is up myself??

I thought it would help things if we came up with a "trick" to help Sammi keep her cool when things aren't going her way, so we talked about ways to keep calm (seriously...was this ME telling HER how to stay calm when you are upset...this must be the twilight zone...the same girl that STILL hyperventilates when her father raises his voice). Since I had yet to master ANY of the suggestions that we came up with, I thought it best to let Sammi figure out what would work for her. Sammi, being smarter than her mother, opted for squeezing her bunny, Pinkie, as hard as she could for ten seconds and then taking a deep breathe. I thought that was pretty mature for a four year old. Ah, progress!!

Now if I only had my own pink bunny...