A Nightly Dance ~ Evie's Shadow

Dancing has become a part of our nightly routine. After Evie has brushed teeth, given everyone muhs, and is in a fresh diaper and jammies for the night, but before we rock-a-bye, I plug in her CD player and turn it on. Lately, we've been listening to Lotus Flower, a CD of Chinese classical and folk music. (It's very beautiful, by the way!) Then, I sit in the chair, and Evie dances.

Evie's dances consist of jumping, stomping, hopping, twirling, swaying ~ truly beautiful works of art. Sometimes she sings, growls, squeaks, hums, or yells along with the dance. Last night she squatted and stomped around the floor like a Sumo wrestler, while emitting ear-piercing shrieks. Sometimes the dances are short, just a few turns around the room, a couple of hops. Sometimes, the dances are long and elaborate, and repeated many, many times (especially when Evie is wound up, and mama is tired and cranky!)

A few nights ago, during one of the famous nighty-night dances, Evie discovered a new friend. This friend follows her out of her bedroom door, but runs away when approached. Evie slid along the floor toward the door, keeping one eye on this friend that was following her. Then, she turned around and chased it behind the rocking chair! Later, during a very gymnastic portion of the dance, Evie almost did the splits while peeking under her foot to see if she and her new friend were somehow glued together. After much giggling on my part, I explained to Evie all about her shadow. Since I don't know the sign for shadow, Evie decided to call it "Fish", which she signs very beautifully. It makes sense to me ~ she must realize that the "sh" sound in Shadow is the same as the "sh" sound in Fish!

So, now you can say that you know the only girl on earth with a Shadow Friend named Fish!