Elizabeth vs The Tights

"Elizabeth!  Should we sign up for dance class?"

"Oh yes!  Please!  I want to learn new dance moves.  I want to twirl like this!  Oh yes, I would love to do dance class!"

"That's great!  I just want you to know that to go to dance class you have to wear tights.  It's the rule."

"Tights.  Tights?!?!?!?!  I don't like tights.  I don't wear tights!  Tights make my skin feel icky.  No, no thank you.  I guess I don't need dance class."


Let the battle begin.

I never thought I would meet a person who loathes tights as much as my sister.  Until I met my daughter.  So after this conversation about dance and tights, I had Ellie call Auntie at work to discuss.

You see, we had to quit dance because my sister wouldn't wear tights.  Yes, WE.  It was such a production that my mom gave up on tights and dance class because it just wasn't worth it.  My sister, Elizabeth's aunt, said tights made the hair on her legs go the wrong way. {past tense, Auntie now sports tights quite frequently}

So after an unsuccessful pep talk, I took Auntie off speaker and we began to reminisce about the good ole days of leotards, side ponies and tights.  My sister said, "I'm sure that they {dance studios} lose a lot of business because kids don't want to wear tights."

Um, I don't think so.  Sure there are girls who don't like tights, but to refuse dance class because of them?  That is ludicrous and maybe blasphemous. 

At that moment I began my mission to cure Ellie of her tights phobia.  We started in her bedroom.  Ellie has 10 plus pairs of tights - polka dot tights, flowered tights, striped tights, solid color tights, it goes on and on.  Most of them never even worn.  The polka dot ones are fun so I started with them.  Big mistake.

To loosen things up a bit, I put the tights on my arm and made them talk with my hand.  They polka dot tights said things like "Hello, Ellie!  Wouldn't you want to try me on?  I am so fun!  Look, I'm polka dotted!"

Finally she put her toes in and then freaked.  And I mean FREAKED.  "No, no I hate tights!  I HATE TIGHTS!  They make my legs feel funny, please, please get them off me.  GET THEM OFF ME!!!!!"

I called my mom, who was generously going to be the ballet financial backer, and told her that I wasn't going to take Ellie to register because I didn't want to sign up for something that would cause weekly tears.  My mom obviously understood and I gave up the fight.

Until...

I got to thinking about how Ellie has shunned her cotton and fleece nightgowns for the "silky" ones.  So I brought her back to her bedroom and we dug through the tights drawer again until we found a pair of silky tights.  Unlike the polka dot sweater-y tights, these were more like dance tights.  The thin opaque kind with a little bit of shine.

Ellie took the bait and tried them on.  And then....

she didn't want to take them off!  She wanted to wear them to dance registration on a 90 degree day.  SUCCESS!  I've outwitted my 3.5 year old! 

I gave myself a huge pat on the back and loaded the girls in the car to head on over to dance registration.  Ellie will be starting a tap, ballet, tumbling combo class the second week of September.  She will be wearing her fashionable light pink leotard, pink silky tights and switching between her brand new nude tap shoes and light pink ballet shoes. 

And I will be there taking millions of pictures.