Presenting Samuel as Tom Thumb

Samuel was in his first dance recital this weekend and it was enough to swell this father's heart with pride. He played Tom Thumb, and started out onstage alone. I had watched for weeks as they practiced this and it had never occurred to me that in the actual fact of the matter, he would be all alone. Here's a little six year old on the stage with a thousand people watching. All sympathetic, of course, but nevertheless, what an experience it must have been for him.

He did well, remarkably well considering his class of little girls, all darling and sweet didn't seem to know what to do. He had to lift each one and hurry them off the stage and they nearly got out with the last of the music. It was hilarious and touching all at once.

Afterwards, Samuel was pumped, he had really enjoyed it and was looking forward to doing it again. Next year he will do both ballet and tap. He's really looking forward to the tap. He wants to do Riverdance (which is hard to find teachers for). So we'll start with American tap. Whatever it is, it's a workout and so much more in line with what I want for small children than most martial arts practice. Eventually, we'll probably get to that as well. But only after he has the maturity to discern when to practice and how. Right now, he's just a bit too young for it (and perhaps a bit too enthusiastic). One thing at a time.