The competition

I spoke to my good friend whose daughter, born three weeks before my son, is signed with Abrams Artists. She booked a job doing catalog work for Hannah Anderson. In fact they called her twice. The first time her daughter V, apparently didn't smile enough. They keep a bunch of back up babies for these situations. The second time she was supposed to be there for a 2:00 call and the photographer was delayed an hour and a half. By the time they got to her baby she was crying and sent home. So sadly there are no pictures of Baby V in the catalog. And sadly we still have heard nothing back on Baby Q's photos. It must be the summer.

Yesterday I took all three boys and the au pair to see Mary Poppins on Broadway. Was Broadway every affordable??? The sticker shock of the day was too much for me to even enjoy it. Also what is with this running time of two and a half hours. Is Disney crazy? Both J and S sat through the entire performance. J kept referring to it afterwards as an opera. S loved the tap dancing number "Step in Time". I was reminded that Mary Poppins was never really my favorite, although I did love Dick Van Dyke. I spent the majority of the second act in the lounge area watching Baby Q crawl around the floor with the other kids who couldn't sit through the entire performance.

Both children in the musical, but especially the little girl, were amazing. The girl is Kelsey Fowler, and her bio is huge for an 11 year old. She is also signed with Abrams Artists.

I am thinking that I my still cough up another $500 to see The Little Mermaid on Broadway before it closes. The important thing here is that the kids be exposed to theater. Right?? Plus we spent the day together and had fun. Who am I kidding??? $500!!! That is obscene! Thank god it wasn't like the time I took them to Dinosaur Live at Madison Square Garden and they had all manner of dinosaur paraphernalia they were shoving down our throats.

Back from hiatus

We spent a week out in Manchester-by-the-Sea visiting with family. No rejection mail upon our arrival. My phone blew up in vacation and I have not been able to access my voicemail for a week. Very unprofessional of me.

We signed S up for a ballet, tap, gymnastics class at The Little Gym. S loves it. We went into the city to purchase a pair of tap shoes for him. He was the only little boy in the entire store, and I thought perhaps this dance for boys would work well on a college application some day. A mom friend of ours sent us a link about the ABT giving full scholarships to boys who do ballet.

School of American Ballet (MN / Year-round)

The famous School of American Ballet at Lincoln Center offers up to five years of ballet and gymnastic training free for boys, with continued scholarship opportunities. Parents of girls, however, must pay tuition fees that add up to thousands. Accepted by audition only, call (212) 769-6600 for September and May dates for 8- and 9-year-olds. From personal experience, I can tell you that taking this road is not an easy ride, although it is a privilege to study in the marble halls of Lincoln Center and be a member of this incredible school. Children are often cast in the lavish production of the Nutcracker in their first year, sometimes their first week, of study. Yet only a year or two later the child may be asked to leave because they do not show enough talent or lack the "right body type" to stay on the professional track. This is a school designed for the budding professional, and not just a dance school for a child who loves ballet!

Know that if S were ever to be performing in the Nutcracker my heart would burst forth from my chest with joy. The problem is while S loves his tap shoes and his dance class, he is still painfully shy. It is like he wants to perform for the world but just can not bring himself to do it. He also isn't great but I love to watch him flail around making noise and having fun.

As for The Little Gym dance class. It is more fun than serious, which is to be expected for a 4 1/2. I am looking for a more serious class should he express an interest in continuing. I am also seeing if I can convince J to take dance. He couldn't resist trying on S's tap shoes. He did more of a controlled Irish jig that I was very impressed with. I was also thinking it would be good to do music lessons with all of the boys.

Baby Q now has two little bottom teeth to call his own. So I have no issue resubmitting photos with teeth. He is like a whole new baby now after all.