Dancing with Daddy

There are certain every day events and items in our household that garner vocal endorsements of one parenting style or just parent over the other.

Things like:
Fastening your seat belt.
Then at your destination, unfastening your seat belt and getting you out of the car.
The bike and by default parent preferred as transport.
Swimming.
Filling up a cup of milk and getting snack on the heels of that.
Making the bacon for BLTs.
Putting you in the bathtub at night, and then taking you out again.
Reading stories.
Comforting you after a bad dream.
Then getting you out of bed the next morning.

Most times, Bobby casts his vote for Daddy while Mary favors her Mommy, but recently Daddy has been on a winning streak across the board. I'm blaming it on my physique, general lack of energy, and inability to cook bacon just like Daddy does, but there have been days, when no one even wants me to fasten their seat belt.

The point is, there is something that Peter adds to the kids' lives that Mommy just can't replicate. He's the one that gets all the way in the baby pool with Bobby. He's the one that gets in bed with Mary to comfort her if she wakes up with a bad dream. He's the one that makes the bacon chewy, not burnt like Mommy. And most recently, he's the one that played Prince Charming to our little girl week after week at Daddy Daughter Dance Rehearsal.

As I would put Bobby down for his nap on Sundays, Peter would take Mary to her dance studio to practice the steps of the big finale at the recital. There were weeks when the report would come back lackluster: there were too many people, it was at the other location with another teacher, we were lacking home field advantage, Mary did it once and then got too tired. But then there were weeks when everything just clicked: they got the steps, they were in sync, and those other Dads just couldn't keep the beat.

No matter what though, the two of them would come home with bright red lips from the Tropical Snow Cones they purchased as a treat for making it through the rehearsal. I loved that Peter was doing this special activity with Mary and I anxiously looked forward to the big show.

***

As a former dancer, I couldn't wait for Mary to experience music and movement for the first time, then ultimately the stage, costumes, lights, audience and applause. After a year of work in Miss Lauren's studio, she got to put on her first tutu and ham it up on stage, just like her Mommy used to do.

Yesterday, she stole the middle of the show in her light blue poof of a dress, dancing to Lollipop in the Candyland themed recital. She knew all her steps, she lit up the line with her animated facial expressions, and she started and ended with the biggest, proudest smile plastered on her face. I couldn't have been more proud of her. (She's third from the left in the video)

  

And her out of town fans agreed. 

   

But it was the end of the show that stole my heart. Mary sat center stage, dressed in white, as Peter snapped his way out to her. They swayed side to side, he lifted her up, shimmied and spun around, and made our little girl glow next to him. I couldn't help but envision the dance that would come twenty some years from now, and got a little teary eyed.

Of all the reasons that I cast my vote for Peter to be my husband about six years ago, bacon maker included, the fact that he would be a great dad was at the top of the list. But with each year, and with each baby, he continues to exceed my expectations.  

Lo,