The lift

I think Moms are allowed to be proud sometimes .... aren't we? I am proud today because I have begun to master parenting an extreme introvert, and what I need to do to help her conquer her fears. I'm sure I'll have a miss in the future, but yesterday, I nailed it!

Check out this video below and then I'll tell you the story behind it. Abigail is in the center in a blue leotard with Carter in all black behind her:

Abigail has absolutely loved the ballet intensive she's been doing this week. It is six hours of ballet each day, and she really hasn't blinked once about how long she's been there. In fact, she is mostly asking me if we can do another one this summer and if I could be wrong about the time because she isn't ready to be done for the day.

That being said, new things remain hard for her. On day one, she did a lift with her teacher, but yesterday she was informed that they would be performing a lift with the guys for the final performance they will do for parents on Saturday. You could tell that Abigail immediately felt swamped with emotion. During a break she came running over to me with tears in her eyes and shaking her head that she couldn't do it.

I have learned that if Abigail truly doesn't want to do something she will say, "No" when I ask her, "Do you want to do this?" If she doesn't say "No" then the truth is, she wants to do it but just feels to intimidated. So when I said, "Do you want to do this?" she gave her traditional shrug instead of her "No" and I knew she was asking me to help her accomplish this.

I began by asking Abigail which "guy" she thought she could pair with. She thought she could go with Carter as she knows him from church and co-op and ballet. He is such a great young man and was totally up for the challenge. Then I went and spoke with the professional teaching the class: Nanako Yamamoto. She was Uhhh-mazingggg. She took Abigail's hand, promised to stay with her the whole time, led her through, and totally got her to do the lift.

And once Abigail did it the first time, you could see the confidence just build up in her. I am so very proud of her!! She's doing such an amazing job. I'm so proud to see her overcome her fears.