Art Class

I don't know if I had mentioned this before, but Analese has been really resistant towards going to dance class. It started around the beginning of December, with lots of tears and crying about how she doesn't want to go, fighting me to get dressed, making the whole morning a nightmare. Once she got there, she was OK. No more tears, would participate for awhile and then towards the end kind of tune out because she was tired. After the morning we had, I was tired too!

So right before Christmas I let her stay home, and decided to see if the Christmas break was what she needed. Last week class was set to start again, and once again, she cried. I finally told her that this class was supposed to be fun for her, if she wasn't having fun, then we just wouldn't go anymore.

She smiled and said "Great! We are not going" and ran off to play.

I was torn as to what I should do. I felt like this was the right thing to do, I mean, why drag my child to her dance class every week? This was supposed to just be a fun class for her, since she loves to dance.

I called Greg and told him...he was surprised. At first he thought I should have forced her to go. "Then that means she won", he said.

I told him "Isn't she supposed to win? Isn't it HER dance class?" He could then see my point, and we decided to pull her out. If she wants to sign up next year, we'll try it again.

So with dance class being out, I wanted to find something that perhaps both girls could enjoy. I am happy to say I found it! It is an art class, designed for children 9 months to 4 years old. The instructor is trained in the Reggio Emilia Approach to learning, believing in an holistic way of teaching children.

We were sold. Greg called it "hippie classes" which I thought about today when she told us how each of our energy was now all flowing into one connected unit :)

We went to our first class this morning. The girls had a blast! It was painting, and they painted with potatoes and sponges and fingers. I didn't come as prepared as I should have, and Mara's cream leggings (what was I thinking, going to art class dressing her in cream?) displayed somewhat of a tye-dye look of greens and blues. She kept assuring me that it would come out, but I really did not care. The girls had so much fun, it would have been worth a few stained clothes.
I love the mix in ages. I was a bit concerned that Analese would be the oldest one there, but was pleasantly surprised that there were at least 4 other children her age. The girls loved seeing the babies all covered in paint, and the mom next to us had her 2 month old girl with her, so the girls were excited!
Next week we'll be more prepared in our attire...and hopefully I'll remember my camera!