Tiny Dancer

Claire began dance class last Tuesday. She was so, so excited. She's talked about nothing except dance ever since Alair's dance recital in May. She can't wait until it's her turn to have a recital and dance on the stage.
A week before class started, we went shopping to buy her gear. I took her to Payless to get shoes. Claire had the choice of pink, white, or black ballet slippers, and since Alair had pink ones, and Claire loves pink, I naturally assumed that that's what she would pick out. Nope. Claire decided she wanted black. I was impressed. After trying on a couple of sizes, we bought a pair of (very tiny and adorable) size 8 ballet slippers.
Next came the tap shoes. Or as Claire refers to them, "tap-tap" shoes. I had her go up to the front of the store where it wasn't carpeted and told her to try them out. She grinned at me, held out her arms, and performed a few of the dance steps Alair has taught her over the summer. I have rarely seen anything so precious.
Then we went to Target for a leotard and tights. There we had a choice of black, pink, or blue. I told Claire that she could have any color, but the style should be plain, not with any fluffy skirts. I told her this not because it's a rule at her class, but because I would have had a harder time keeping her from wanting to play in it if it looked like something a princess would wear.
Well, the styles she liked didn't come in the size she needed. So we went to WalMart. The selections were far fewer, and we got a plain pink leotard and pink dance tights.
Then on to JoAnn Fabrics to pick out material for her dance bag. I had made one for Alair as a present at her recital. It was pink and lavender and had ballet fairies all over it. I figured we'd get something similar for Claire. Nope. Claire picked out black fabric with brightly colored, narrow stripes, and matching fabric with dots for the lining. I was impressed.
When the time finally came for her first class, I took her in and she put on her tap-tap shoes. Then she sat next to Alair on the floor with the rest of the class of nine little girls. Miss Sarah asked who was three years old. Only Claire raised her hand. There were a couple of 4-year-olds and mostly 5-year-olds. Claire was completely undaunted by being the youngest in the class. I wasn't too worried either. She had been told to do everything her teacher told her to do, and she was so eager to learn to dance that I knew she would do fine.
Miss Sarah had the girls stand up and spread out. Claire held out her arms to make sure she wasn't too close to any other girls. She was looking around, clearly making sure that she was doing the right thing. The best word to describe her expression is "earnest."
The girls started tapping. The noise nine little girls make with tap shoes in a small room rivals rock concerts, I'm sure. I left shortly after to take Natalie to the library, and I don't think Claire even noticed my absence. I came back at the end, and Claire was thrilled but tired.
We're going to have to work on managing the exhaustion, because Claire is very difficult to reason with when she's tired, and obviously, she's even more tired when dance is over. But overall, I think this is going to be a great activity for Claire.