Mommy the Superhero??

Rachel's dance recital was last Saturday (oops, forgot to mention in my previous post, which is why we didn't get up to Seattle until late). The theme was "Spring Garden," and it was ADORABLE, with all the little kids playing animals in various set pieces. The littlest ones were ants, then came bumblebees, ladybugs and chipmunks, at the end came fairies, etc. Rachel's group was bunnies, and when they came hopping out in white leotards and white bunny ears, they were BEYOND ADORABLE. There was a part where they turned their backs to the audience and wiggled their butts, and I have to say with mixed feelings that Rachel was the best at it. Then came the part where they all lay face down in a line and each bunny had to hop over the group of bunnies. Rachel went first and around me I could hear gasps of pleasure from the audience.

At the end I raced up to the stage while they were taking formal pictures and said, "Rachel! I'm so PROUD of you!" and handed her a bouquet of flowers I'd bought. It was truly a Mom Moment, one of many I'm blessed to be able to look forward to.

As we were leaving the performance, Rachel spied a package of princess trinkets -- a collection of a tiara, wand, earrings, rings and shoes. She begged me to buy them and got teary-eyed when I said no. She made the point that she has no shoes for dress-up, and when I told her she has some white shoes with flowers and sequins, she very sensibly pointed out that they're shoes for outside, and if she wears them inside for dress-up she'll bring in ants. I told her that was a fair point, and that if the stuff wasn't too expensive I'd buy it for her. Back in the theater I went, and the package was only $5 so I bought it, and I explained to Rachel that she got it because she had made a good argument AND the stuff was inexpensive -- not because she cried because I'd said no.

The stuff really was cheap; the earrings broke, one of the "gems" in the tiara fell out before it even left the package, and last night one of the gems on the dress-up shoes fell off and Rachel was heartbroken. It happened while we were eating dinner, and she cried and cried, and I promised to buy her a new pair if I couldn't fix them. Then I suggested she hand them over to me, and the gem snapped back into place as soon as I fiddled with it.

"Mommy!" Rachel exclaimed. "You are a superhero. You. You. Mommy. You. Lisa. Mommy. Not me. YOU." Oh, if I could only make all her problems go away like that....