Toddlers and Tutus

Sunday was photo day at the Ladies ballet studio. They are gearing up for their big performance and not only got their pictures taken, but got their new outfits for the recital as well.

Here is the pic my hubby sent of the Little Lady in her puffy, pink poof of a dress. I immediately texted him back to make sure he addressed the hair situation and then waited patiently for them to return so that we could repeat the process two hours later with the Lady.

The Little Lady in her frilliest finest.

The Little Lady returned in full regalia and the Lady was so excited that they brought home her outfit as well.

The Lady was super psyched to have so many sequins. I made her take off the tattoo because I didn't think that it was appropriate for an "official" dance portrait, but when I got to the studio I noticed that two other girls in her class had tattoos, both in a state worse off than the Lady's.

The thing I love about their dance studio is that it is super laid back. The teacher is amazing and is able to control and choreograph these girls without having to go the more "disciplined" route of other dance studios. Having said that, sometimes things don't always run super smoothly and in the words of another mom who was having her girls photographed at the same time as the Little Lady things were pretty much a "shit show."

So when I walked into a packed entry way with the Ladies and there were girls everywhere in tulle and lace, I started to itch.

The Lady basically stripped down in a doorway and put on her outfit. As I started to fix her hair, I looked into the studio and saw girls in full on makeup wearing tiaras. Then a little girl in the Lady's class asked her mom for makeup.

Her mother replied with a resounding "No." Which is the same sentiment I echoed to the Lady when she asked me. Now, I barely own makeup let along carry it around with me, but in a moment of panic that I wasn't presenting my daughter as the best she could be, I ignored myself and started rummaging around in my bag until I came up with a tube of lip gloss that I am pretty sure I used at my cousin's wedding last year, six days before QT was born, and I am 100% belongs to my sister.

I then slapped some gloss on the Lady and herded her into the studio to wait her turn. Within three minutes she was complaining about wanting the lip gloss off, but I couldn't even find a napkin in my bag to remove it and it was so thick and old that I wasn't going to use my shirt. The Little Lady, however, found the gloss much to her liking and reapplied it about three times before I had to take it out of her hands. 

So we are standing around waiting to take the group shot and the Lady is insisting that she be able to swing from my arms like some rag doll in a prom dress and there is paperwork to be signed and a lot of anticipation and one of the other mothers comments to me that she is glad that she isn't a pageant mom because it is a lot of prep work.

The Lady takes the photo shoot into her own hands.

And then I started to think that there was a real possibility that I could morph into one of those "Toddler and Tiara" moms. I mean how quick was I to whip out the gloss? Had there been mascara in that bag the Lady might have been sporting Kardashian-style lashes and a glossy pout. There is a fine line between debating whether or not I should use my saliva and fingers to pat down errant hairs and pumping my kids full of pixie sticks and energy drinks as I mime their dance routines as they perform, and get a contact high after spraying layer upon layer of hair spray in their jewel-encrusted-tiara-topped hair, in order to make sure that everything in their lives just goes perfectly, and by no means try to make up for any inadequacies in my own. 

Finally it was the Lady's turn to get photographed and I will admit I hovered a little bit and put on a weird giant grin so she could tell that I wanted her to smile more. The Little Lady decided that she did indeed want to have her picture taken with her big sis and we stepped back into the pink poof and the two of them put on some fake smiles (and in the Little Lady's case her "cheese face") and contorted their bodies in what they believed were model-like-poses.

The "Cheese Face"

Sorry for the lack of photos of the Ladies in their various poses. There would have been some had the photographer not scolded myself and the other moms for using a flash. Oops.

Only a few more weeks until the recital, which can only be better than last year when I showed up three days postpartum with people asking if I had had the baby yet.