I don't want to. . .

OK. Here's the deal. Sophia has been in dance class since September and her final recital (portions of The Nutcracker) is this coming Saturday afternoon. Grancy is going to come and watch her perform.. .or not perform.

I'm afraid to say that twice this week Sophia has absolutely refused to perform her dance with the other girls. The first time was at a nursing home earlier this week. I thought it would be good practice for her to perform in front of a group and help bring the old people some holiday cheer. Well, she cried and cried and hid behind me when I was dropping her off. I guess eventually she stopped crying only to mope out onto the stage and stand there hunched over not even looking up at us. This isn't the little girl that just sang so boldly at her school Halloween show. Humph.

Today she had a full run through rehearsal and once again she hid behind me and stood there when the other girls were doing the routine. It made me so sad to see her just standing there. I wanted to give her a big hug, but the other part of me wanted to make her do the dance. It's so frustrating to know that she's still so shy in certain situations. I know, or I hope, she'll grow out of it. Hopefully before Saturday when Grancy is driving 4 hours to come and see her.

How bad is this? I know I'm going to get some grief about it, but I bribed Sophia to perform next weekend.

We went to Toys R Us after her run through because I wanted to get something for Lilly. Sophia is so completely into princesses right now that I think she may have herself convinced that she can become a princess if she plays with them enough!

She's been wanting this Ariel princess Sparkle and Splash doll that can actually go in the bathtub or pool, it lights up and I think it swims too. I told her that she could have it after she did her dance next weekend. I bought it today and she carried it all around the store. I'll take it with me on Saturday and remind her that she can earn the doll by dancing. Gosh....I feel like such an awful parent, but I paid for the class, the costume and the DVD and I want a great DVD with her smiling and having a good time. Fingers crossed!