There are a lot of reasons I try not to take Mila to Alexis' dance classes. The biggest one is that while Mila is full of awesome on a playground, that awesome doesn't fit well in a small, crowded space. It's effort to keep her contained and happy is all I'm saying.
Contained just isn't her style.
But tonight was one of those nights when she needed to hang out with me. I tried to keep her contained and happy in the car for half an hour, but "I GET OUT!" starts to wear on a person after the first 245132 times a little kid says it.
So I took her in.
The good news is that there are a lot of people who think Mila is adorable. Those people are willing to fawn over her, which is basically her #1 favorite thing in life. Fawn over the child and she will be your best friend forever. Or for about three seconds. Whichever comes first.
After three seconds, she takes off and looks for the next thing to do. At the dance studio, that happens to be running around to the back hallway. It's a little hidden hallway that leads to a door that goes into the studio itself. It's completely invisible from the waiting room so I have no choice but to chase the Tiny Human around.
About the fourth time Mila decided she was done being around her fans, she noticed the actual door to the studio. For whatever reason, she has always ignored it. Today, though, she ran up to that door, stuck her face up to it, and yelled, "ALLLEESSSSUUUUS!"
The good news is that there is a one-way mirror film on the glass. Mila could see in, but nobody could see out. The other good news is that the music was turned up loud, so nobody heard the crazy call for her sister.
The bad news is that Mila doesn't like it when her shenanigans go unnoticed.
So she stepped up her game. She began licking the glass, smooshing her nose against it, and generally acting a fool. Even as I stopped her, she worked harder to be a nut. It became a wrestling match, with me trying to get Mila to go anywhere else while also cleaning up her mess while also being grateful the girls in the class couldn't see what was happening right in front of them.
The fact of the matter is there were a LOT of girls looking right at the door. There's something about mirrors and tweens that leads to lots of looking, so I swear all of them were staring at us. Or, rather, THROUGH us because they were looking at themselves. A LOT.
Mila did her best to be a goof.
The girls in the dance class kept just looking through her. Not a one cracked a smile or giggled or ANYTHING
So Mila kicked up the goofy. And kicked it up. And kicked it up some more.
Finally she stopped trying to be the court jester and turned to me. She seemed defeated and confused and, well, I think she summed up the problem quite well. Miss Mila looked me straight in the eye and said, "But Mila funny" in the saddest voice you've ever heard.
Here's to hoping "contained" is never a thing that Mila does well.