I've watched tons of videos of dancing with her: ballet, hip-hop, swing, you name it. She always enjoys it. But after a walk in the rain yesterday, Adam was inspired to play a video of Gene Kelly's Singing in the Rain:
Sammy had her "observation face" on the whole time. She didn't smile or react much in any way - but she was watching intently. So Adam searched for more tap dancing videos and he played Fred Astaire's Puttin' on the Ritz for her:
In the middle of this video, Sammy must have accumulated enough data, because her calm broke and she screamed: I CAN DO THAT! I'M GOING TO PUT ON MY WATER SHOES AND I CAN DO THAT! She ran to her shoe basket, put on her Crocs, and came back and started stomping her feet and swinging her arms. She combined the "tap dancing" with her usual spinning and some clear mimicry of the video. We could see the joy of discovery in her face. She was enraptured! (I took a video, but she's naked except for the shoes, so I can't share it, which is a bummer. I'll have to learn how to edit those pesky videos someday.)
After a while, she got frustrated that her Crocs were not making the tapping noise, so she went to her toy bin and got out one of those clapper toys which you can shake to make a great tapping noise.
She combined the clapper with the dancing in the Crocs and we had a tap dancer in the house! How smart is that! It's all about values.
I've been looking for some kind of physical activity for Sam to do on a regular basis. She's just not that physical of a kid, and I think she's ready for something where she can learn to control her body and exercise her gross motor skills. I'm signing her up for tap this summer for sure!
[...] in March, I wrote about how Sam fell in love with tap dancing. I was ready to sign her up for lessons during the summer, but there wasn’t anything available [...]
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