Eva ballerina

Here's a brief update before we head to Washington, DC for the weekend.

Parents were invited to observe the dance classes at Eva's dance school this week. There are 5 girls (all in kindergarten) in her class, which is a combination of ballet, tap and tumbling, and they all got very excited to have visitors. The instructor said that the riotous squealing/screaming they were doing was unprecedented. The screaming was magnified in the small, mirrored room with a hardwood floor -- I felt like I was at a rock concert rather than a ballet performance. The highlights in terms of Eva's performance were balancing on her toes for quite a while and, of course, her amazingly perfect cartwheels. All of us had a lot of laughs and a few tears of pride and delight.

For those of you we may not have had a chance to contact by phone, Eva is participating in a Fun Run at her school next Friday, October 17, and she would like to know if you would be willing to sponsor her. You can sponsor her by pledging a certain amount per lap or by a lump sum. Checks can be made out to "Eakin PTO" and mailed to us. If you are going the per lap route, they advised that most kindergarteners walk a total of 10 laps, which includes not only the laps around the Vanderbilt track but also credit for walking from the school to the track and back.

Eva's choir sang in church on Sunday, and it was a sight to behold. Eva spent most of the time, holding her bottom lip down, so that everyone could see the gap in her teeth, all the while singing beautifully. She also lifted the upper part of her robe (sorry, Andrew, for not knowing what that is called -- :)) and yawned a lot. In other words -- priceless.

Eva and I were overjoyed on Monday to welcome a new friend to the world. Little baby Lucas Rainer ("Rane") was born on Monday and has come home to my dear friend, Joseph, and his partner, Blas, who are adopting him. Eva loves his name and said, "Mommy, now we know two 'Rains.'" (The other is a horse in the movie Spirit and who is featured in Eva's favorite happy dream each night at bedtime.) I saw Rane today, and he is absolutely beautiful. Eva was glad to give him her favorite hooded towels and looks forward to holding him some time soon and to teaching him some tricks as he grows.

I'll post after we return from DC. I’m sure we'll have many stories to share. Oh -- one other good quote. Each day this week, Eva has said, "is today the day we're going to catch our flight." In the morning, I can finally answer yes.