Dance Party

Concerts on the lawn at the library are back--kicking off this season was the Air Force Band of the Pacific.

We met up with some family. YES! Have I mentioned that I recently learned that a second cousin moved to Anchorage with her husband and 4 kids? It's the closest thing we'll get to living close to family for another few years, so we're claiming them as full blood relatives. David is third cousins with these kids--perfectly legal to date and marry a third cousin. But we're still claiming them as family.

Tyler is David's favorite--he's 5, and he's a great buddy for David. He's aware enough that David is only 3, but he also stretches David into new ways to play and rough house that are so healthy for a boy in the right place and time.

On Thursday, Tyler wasn't with us--so it helped David get to know Brynlee a little better. She's exactly David's age, but somehow the interaction hasn't happened since the two boys latched onto each other so quickly. 

When a group of kids started dancing in front of the band's stage, I told David to go get Brynlee's hand and dance with her. David dutifully went down to the dance area, and picked up the hand of a cute little blond girl--maybe about 18 months old. She willingly followed his lead (he was holding her hand so gently, she really could have pulled away if she wanted) but big crocodile tears started rolling down her cheeks. She had no idea who this fellow was, and it scared her. The crying didn't deter David. He held onto both hands, rocked back and forth, and danced up a storm while his dance partner sat there and bawled.

I finally got down to the dance "floor" and between my giggles explained to David that he had grabbed the wrong little girl's hand. And I re-introduced him to Brynlee.

From there it was a rip-roarin dance party!!

And I'm still giggling at the memory of that poor little girl who was sobbing while David danced with her.

 Brynlee was a less teary dance partner, but I think she was out of her element to be dancing with someone besides her brother. David, meanwhile, proceeded to have the time of his life.

 When David dances, his style is more of a modern, impressionistic approach with a touch of break dancing.

Completely unpredictable, a lot of movement, and he alternates between moving his arms and hands in the air. When he isn't holding on to a partner, he's more likely to put his hands on the ground and do moves that could pass for yoga poses.

 He even tried to pull the sound guy into his moves.

Again, Thursday morning gave us a few minutes of clear sky--but the clouds quickly rolled in.

We're glad that we enjoyed a few minutes of sunshine, anyway.

And we're looking forward to this week's performance by the Japanese drummers.