And 5, 6, 7, 8 . . . . . .

Saturday was the big recital. Hair slicked back, mandatory makeup applied (ours was way tamer than so many of the other girls - I swear I saw 5-year-olds wearing enormous false eyelashes, ugh), and Cinderella dress and tiara in place.

I was so nervous about how long it would take me to get Lauren ready (visions of my mom piercing my skull with bobby pins while putting on my synchro headpieces danced in my mind). I left over an hour to get her ready and it's a good thing, too. 4-year-olds are understandably squirmy, even if planted directly in front of a good episode of Dora.

This is actually her third year performing in a dance recital, if you can believe it. Each year she's been at a different studio, but seeing how grown-up she looks now, I just had to go back in the archives to her first performance as a just-turned 2-year-old. Performing with only one other little to "You Are My Sunshine" with mommies joining in on stage. A little ham even back then.




What a difference two years makes.


Pre-show, the girls primped and posed in a holding room.


Lauren and new BFF Liliana were eager to show off their cherry red lip gloss:


A little love was even reserved for Mommy:


Of course she wasn't so happy when I had to leave the room to make my way up to the theater to sit with Norm, my parents, and Nanny Kristen. Crocodile tears ensued, but luckily they dissipated by the time of the show.

And how was the performance? Well, I can't show you the actual performance, since no cameras (video or otherwise) are allowed in the theater. But here's a video of the dress rehearsal recorded by another dad (due to technical difficulties, you may have to copy and paste the link into your browser. Also to view in HD, increase pixels in the right hand corner to 1080 and click on the 4 arrows). Let me just say that on recital day, Lauren did not look at the feet of the girl next to her once (as she confessed, she "forgot" the moves during the rehearsal and had a serious case of "the stage fright"). She performed like a star, and we were and are so proud. [Oh, and our little porcelain-skinned ingenue is 4th from the right.]

http://www.youtube.com/user/nancykwang

Post-performance, Lauren was on cloud nine. She ran out the dancer's stage door into everyone's arms, her rouge-stained cheeks flushed, her glittery eyes bright and glistening with excitement.





One final embrace with Liliana and Lauren climbed into her waiting carriage for ride home to her castle, where she played with Kristen for the rest of the afternoon, sans makeup and tiara, but still very much our princess.