lord of the dance

We had Cairo's fiddle jam last night.
(If you have read my blog for any length of time at all, you probably know where this is going.)
There were maybe 50-60 fiddlers at the Irish Cultural Center - plus at least that many parents & grandparents (a sour looking bunch, i thought) that were seated audience style in the dark behind the huge lit up circle that the fiddlers made. Neil quit sitting with us after Charter & Mollen made their 4th trip to the snack table... (We have different views on that... i told them to fill up & not say they're hungry when they get home... He embarrasses too easily. Little did he know).
You're meant to *move* to fiddle music. Sloanie & Peyton had brought their fiddles too & were trying their best to play along during some of the songs they knew, so that left the 3 small fry sitting somewhere between Neil & i (Charter 7, Mollen 5 & Gage 22mos). It wasn't long before Mollen decided she wanted to dance. Before starting, she asked if she could turn my jacket into a dress - she needed it buttoned right up to her throat - it shouldn't have surprised me that the detail of "costume" wouldn't escape her. She started tapping her feet... then flapping her arms... then jumping - just a little - before fully transforming into the lord of the dance in the small dark space around our chairs. Charter ignored her & kept eating cookies. She would return to me, breathless, between songs & say, "MOM! I LIKE my moves, i'm GLAD i have them!!!"
i glanced over at Neil who was trying his best to pretend that he wasn't with us - & i saw his face turn white as he choked on his rice krispy square. i turned to see what had caught his eye & i see Mollen who is now irish dancing in the middle of the HUGE circle of fiddlers - jiggedy-jig, up & down with her arms plastered to her side - Michael Flatley would've been proud. Cai has stopped fiddling & is laughing so hard in horror & humiliation that there are tears streaming down her face. Most of the other fiddlers are smiling encouragingly at her. One of Cai's friends turns to her and says, "Is your sister in Irish Dance?" "NO!" Cai sputters - "i have no idea what she's doing!" Molls isn't even cracking a smile, she's concentrating so hard on her fancy footwork. When the song ends, she spins on her heel & walks all the way back around the circle, back to me & says, "wheuf, i'm hot!"
Well, i guess so!
Then she gives me a confident smile & says, "if they do another slow one, i'm gonna throw in some ballet." (!!??)
That's my girl.