Dance recital requires lots 'o bobby pins

We made it through busy dance recital weekend and this year it was even more clear to me that my girls are growing up. Both girls kept track of their multiple costumes without much assistance (other than me marking their initials in every costume piece before dress rehearsal).

Usually this is the most stressful part of recital for me because not only am I keeping track of costumes, tights and multiple dance shoes for each of the girls, but I've got my own stuff to worry about too. Thankfully we didn't have as many costumes among the three of us than we have had in years past (a couple of the girls' classes combined in to a production number with one costume so it cut down the number of costumes by two -- and that's significant when you add in all the doodads like hair pieces, tights, etc.) so things in the dressing room thankfully started out easier for us this year.

The other part of this busy weekend that I tend to stress over is the girls' hair. The girls lamented that my bun-making skills were sorely lacking at picture night earlier in the week (I'm lucky to get a brush through my hair most days so they know this is not my forte to begin with). But I had another go at buns for dress rehearsal with some improvement. And confirming the adage the 'third time is a charm,' I was relieved (as were the girls) I got things figured out by the first night of recital so there were no unraveling bun incidents on stage.

The reason my bun-making skills improved was more about utilizing my resources better than my actual skills (use enough gel and bobby pins and you can make anything work!).

In the aftermath of three nights at the theater (dress rehearsal one night plus a show on both Saturday and Sunday), I'm paying the price of our haste -- getting out the door each day and heading straight to bed after each show -- by picking up bobby pins and hair nets all over the house (costumes however were treated with much more care). There was definitely a dump and move on thing going on with hair paraphernalia, especially for G. because she can't handle "stuff sticking in to her head" or "sticky hair" any longer than absolutely necessary.

I estimated I used about 20 bobby pins per bun, plus a few extra for their crowns, and when I picked up a dozen bobby pins off the floor yesterday I did the numbers on how many we likely used over the weekend. Multiply 20 by two girls over three nights and well, that leaves me estimating there are over 100 bobby pins scattered around my house right now.

The girls and I had a fun weekend with our dance friends but I am relieved I'm off the hook for a while with hairdresser duty and costume wrangling (bless those girls and their moms who do this sort of dance show stuff on a regular basis with competitions). I'm really glad this is only a once a year thing for us (I actually kissed each one of my girls on Sunday night to thank them for that).



The buns this year actually had to be below the crown per the dance teacher's instructions. Once I got that figured out the girls did their head-shake test to assess the bun's stability before we moved on to securing the crowns in to place with yet more bobby pins.



My Arabian dancers were part of a multi-class production number of Aladdin, which not only saved us money on costumes but helped moved the recital along to save on empty stage time that usually happens between individual numbers at recital.



The girls and I did a dance called Generations with other families (moms, grandmas, kids, cousins, aunts - every family had a different mix of family members dancing together) that we learned a couple of weeks before recital. Each family was charged with making their own costumes based on an assigned color so the girls and I went with a tie-dye look (a favorite craft project at our house). This year's music included a mix of "Me and My Shadow" and "We Are Family," which made for a fun number for both the families dancing and the audience.

Memorable dance recital from years past

The girls and I have spent a lot of time at our dance studio in the past two weeks in preparation for this year's recital. And after seeing the youngest dancers in the show in their little tutus for pictures last night I couldn't help but reminisce about L.'s first dance recital.

L. had a medical issue as an infant and spent several years in physical therapy from the time she was about one year old until she was 4. She didn't take her first step until she was 18 months old and was unsteady on her feet for years.

The physical therapist suggested several activities for us to do with her in addition to weekly visits to physical therapy to get her on track with other kids her age (this is one of the reasons I started writing Kid Tracks because we had to stay active to help her get her muscles in to shape). And by the time she was 4 years old, she tested out of PT.

It seemed like a great accomplishment at the time but shortly after PT ended, L. fell and broke her arm. This was not a shock though because I thought it a miracle we'd gone that long without a broken bone given the frequency of her falls (some were really nasty) learning to walk and climb up and down stairs.

Unfortunately it was summer time and dealing with a cast in the summer on a 4-year-old was a real drag. But we made it through the 6 weeks and all seemed OK.

Then L. broke her arm the following spring jumping off a swing set with her sister. Another 6 weeks went by and her cast was removed two weeks before her first dance recital in June, which we thought was great timing.

But a week later L. fell off a couch chair. It was a standard L.-fall-off-the-couch scenario I'd seen her do many times before (no jumping or horsing around, just L. misjudging her ability to climb off) and should have been nothing to be overly concerned with. But I recognized the crying as being something more serious and took L. to the hospital.

It turned out that she had a compound fracture this time (and I should note that all three breaks were the same arm and the bone in that arm hadn't fully healed from the previous breaks and why it broke so easily again).

Suffice it to say we were questioned for hours by the hospital staff when they checked L.'s records and realized this was the third broken bone in a year. It took lots of explaining on our part and another record check from the PT to confirm L.'s medical condition before we were released from the hospital.

The really unfortunate thing about this break was that the ER doctors missed that the compound fracture needed to be set (they didn't take x-rays from the correct angle to see the mismatched bones of her arm).

So the day before L.'s dance recital during a follow up office visit with L.'s doctor we got the news that L. needed surgery to set the bone asap. Like, the next morning. The day of the recital.

L. was devastated and we promised that if she wanted to, she could dance in the recital after her surgery, never believing it would actually happen.

The surgery required she be put under anesthesia and we assumed she'd be out of it for at least a couple of hours and miss the show. But we brought along the pink tutu to the hospital to appease her.

The surgery went smoothly and L. woke up right afterward wondering why her mouth felt different (L. had a loose tooth that needed to be pulled when they put her under as an anti-choking precaution) and happy to see the tooth fairy paid her a visit during the surgery (her orthopedic doctor was great).

After a few popsicles and much bragging about her $5 bill after the surgery (this was a real pick-me-up for her), she was ready to put on her tutu and go to the recital. I checked in with her doctor and he said if she wanted to dance in the recital I could let her do it. He did warn me that she'd likely be feeling the pain a bit later in the day once all the meds she'd be given during the surgery fully wore off and to be prepared for that with some extra Tylenol.

So we left the hospital only a few hours after the surgery and made it to the recital with less than a half hour to spare. L.'s friends were thrilled to see her (there was much hugging) and she went out on the stage to perform her routine.

But that's L. She's a determined little cookie. If she gets something in her head she wants to do, she's going to do it. It's a personality trait that I believe will serve her well in life but I know all too well that it's not always an easy thing to parent.

So as I watched my now 11-year-old L. (who has not broken a bone since) looking like a teenager in her Arabian girl costume, I couldn't help but remember her in that little pink tutu we dragged to the hospital for her all those years ago.


L.'s surgery was around 8 a.m. as I recall and by noon she was ready to hit the road for her stage performance.





L. today (she's in front just left of the black pole)



Oh, and in case you were wondering, we survived a second summer with her in a cast more easily than the first. Lessons learned included the discovery of a special latex "sock" to cover her arm and cast and it worked like a charm. Just FYI for any of you who are facing a summer with a young child in an arm cast.


We bought this "sock" at a medical supply store in Portland and it worked great. Her cast never got wet with it on.


I believe L. became a stronger swimmer simply from the strength it took to paddle with a lead weight on her arm for two summers in a row. (Swimming had been part of her PT program and her favorite activity as a toddler/preschooler so saying no to it during the summer was NOT an option. The 'sock' was a life-saver and perfect compromise for us.)