The Jones Girls

The girls have been learning how to emulate and copy dance routines from different shows like Fantasmic at Disneyland.   I have been thinking for a while that they would love to be in dance class.    The problem is with 4 girls in dance, it can be pretty expensive.

I got a coupon in the mail today from Savannah’s old Ballet Dance Studio, Adagio Dance. They are offering waiving the registration fee and offering a hefty discount for ballet and dance classes.

There was a schedule of classes included with the coupon and Pre Combo Ballet & Tap for 2-3 yo’s (triplets) and Pre Combo & Tap for 4-5 yo’s (for Savvy) are Friday nights 6:45-7:15 for the triplets class and 7:15-7:45 for Savvy’s class.  Wow, I could take all of them in one swoop, who could have planned that schedule any better?

Now mind you, I opened my mail at 5pm tonight so I just noticed that the time of the classes that are tonight’s classes are 6:45 and 7:15pm!!      I thought about it and called the dance studio and asked if I could bring the triplets down and have Ms. Jennifer, the dance instructor and owner, evaluate the triplets to see if they were ready for the 2-3 yo class.   I also wanted her to let me know if she thought Savvy could do the 4-5 yo class.

After I made the call, they told me to bring the girls down tonight if I wanted.   I am looking at the clock and it is now 5:50pm.  I have about 40 minutes for me to jump in the shower because I feel gross (it has been so hot and oppressive here) and also to get all 4 girls dressed up in the ballet gear and hair done.

I am running around with a vengeance and we managed to get to the dance studio at 6:50, just 5 minutes late.  Not too bad.    I had no ballet shoes or tap shoes for the girls and the studio said they have extras to lend people.   That was so cool!!   They were able to provide all of the ballet shoes and tap shoes for the 4 girls.  Yipee!!   I quickly get the triplets ballet shoes on and I walk them into the dance room.    I stay in there for moral support and observance for 5-10 minutes and then I left the room to be with Savvy who was watching vigilantly outside viewing through the one-way mirror.

One thing that impressed me about dance class on Friday nights is the classes only have about 6 kids in them and with my girls it made it about 9 kids in the triplets class and in Savvy’s class it was only about 5 with her in the class.  The waiting room for the parents was pretty bare and it made for a very relaxing and less hurried atmosphere.   The girls’ classes were the last classes of the day which made it less rushed and enjoyable for me.

Ok so back to dance!!  After 15 minutes of ballet, all of the girls ran out and I switched the ballet shoes for tap shoes.     You should have seen me, I was like a conveyor belt putting one shoe after the other…6 feet in all!! LOL!!

 The triplets quickly scuttled back into the dance room and tapped their little heart out.I had tears in my eyes.  I was so proud of them!!

I got Savannah ready for her class and she did beautifully in her class.    She has been out of ballet for about 16 months now.    She remembered most of her moves from her past and got to learn some new moves using new techniques.   She looked so confident and relaxed and had so much fun.

While she was in class, the triplets were running around the waiting area like my little banshee monkeys.  I had to remind them to be quiet to not disturb Savannah’s class.

It was amazing to see my parade of 4 pink ballet princesses, fluttering about in their tutus and laughing and giggling like little angels.    My 4 girls won the hearts of their teacher, Ms. Jennifer and also all of the other parents.

So I negotiated a discount rate with the owner.  I think the dance will benefit all of the girls in the following manner:

Amanda:   This will improve her sense of balance, strengthen her core and help her posture.

Maryssa:  She is pigeon toed, her feet point inward.  The shoes and the exercises will help align her feet to be more forward and hopefully help her overcome her pigeon toe.

Miranda:   She does not take direction well and easily gets distracted.  This will help her learn and follow direction in a group setting as well as keep her focused.

Savannah:   She has bilateral coordination issues and muscle tone issues which were inherited from me (so sorry Savvy!).    In the past when she was in dance, it offered her good therapy to help her promote good coordination and muscle tone.  

The nice thing about all of this is all of the girls have no idea it is therapy, it is fun, fun, fun!!

Yesterday was Maryssa big official day to begin getting potty trained.  She peed on the potty chair 3 times!!  Yay!!

Her first time she was in the bathroom in the morning.  I brought her a cup of milk and a book and she sat on the potty chair for an hour and then finally did her first pee pee.     We all cried out for joy and she was so excited.

After we got home from the beach, we resumed potty training and put her on the potty each time after drinking fluids.   She peed both times.

I  am crossing my fingers that I can get her potty trained before  early September so she can go to preschool.   The preschool will only take potty trained kids.

Read the rest of this entry »

I took Amanda and Maryssa to the Public Preschool to be evaluated on Thursday May 28th.  

Since Amanda is being followed by the school district as a possible special needs due to her disability with her right arm, they want to do a global evaluation, academically and physically.   So Thursday we had it done.   She was tested at a 3-1/2 to 4 year old level!!  The preschool teachers and the school psychologist said they have never used the some of the pages of the evaluations for a 2 year old before and were amazed.  Way to go Amanda!!  So she will not need speech therapy or Special Ed Kindergarten.

Maryssa got evaluated because she currently receives speech therapy once a week and the school district wanted to see if Maryssa would benefit from the Public Preschool that would offer her speech therapy.  She tested much lower than Amanda in terms of receptive language which is processing and understanding language.   She tested a little bit better in her expressive language than receptive language.  Expressive language is how she communicates and talks.     I am hoping she will receive speech therapy at the preschool because I think she will benefit greatly from it over a traditional preschool because of the smaller classroom size vs. a larger classroom size in a traditional preschool.   Maryssa is such an adorable and darling sweetheart.  She is just my precious!!

We have a follow up appointment on the results of their evaluations on June 10th.