Mother-Son Dance

On Friday, I took Kip on a date to our first elementary school Mother-Son dance. Initially, Kip wasn't interested in attending since it was a new thing and he tends to resist those. But, after he saw some photos from the Father-Daughter dance in February, he was excited. All he wanted was to be able to wear a "tie-bow" which I was happy to accommodate.

The theme of the dance was "Ready Set Glow" so everything was neon and glowy. Kip opted to dress fancy but there was a pretty even mix between couples wearing formal attire and others wearing casual neon or glowing stuff. The PTO did a really nice job decorating and Kip literally ran around grabbing balloons for the first hour. Just making laps around the dance floor, totally red and sweaty but happy. I just stood by our table and chatted with a friend. It made my heart smile to see Kip just doing his own thing without a single thought about what anyone else there was thinking of him. He is still so young and blissfully unaware of peer pressure and conformity. He wasn't worried about looking silly or people laughing at him. He was just having a blast and I wanted him to enjoy every second of that freedom because I know some day soon it will fade. 

 

 

They served us a yummy Italian meal and afterwards Kip and I got our portrait taken (think prom-style photo). We haven't gotten it back yet to see but I'm sure it will be hilarious. 

Later Kip asked me to dance with him and my seriously shy self and middle-school traumatized memories were screaming at me to just be a wallflower. But, my five-year-old wanted to dance with me and I told myself there was absolutely no one I cared to impress there except for him. So I got on the dance floor (the only adult dancing) and jumped around with Kip. After a song or two, a few other moms joined in with their sons. I was proud I didn't allow my own insecurity to shape Kip's memory of the night. Instead, I had an opportunity to be a cool mom and push myself way outside my comfort zone and be the person I wish I'd had the courage to be when I was a kid. Fortunately, a friend grabbed a couple of photos for us as proof of our crazy dancing.

After dancing, we did the photo booth and then got dessert and headed home. 

Kip was absolutely exhausted but I know he had a great time and I did too.