You win some, you lose some.

In a fit of apparent madness, I decided yesterday afternoon that rather than skipping Jazzercise, I'd take Penny with me.

The Jazzercise place has a playroom with a TV/VCR; I figured I'd put in a Disney movie and she'd sit mesmerized until class was done.

But she decided she was afraid of the playroom and wouldn't go in it. Instead, she followed me out onto the studio floor. She was fascinated with the big mirror, and the elephant stand on which one of the speakers sits.

She got a little nervous as the room filled up with strangers, and for the first two or three songs, she insisted on holding my hand, her own feet rooted to the floor. Then she decided she wanted to hold Elizabeth's hand instead. Then she wanted me to come up so she could stand between Elizabeth and I and hold both our hands.

After a couple of songs that way, we convinced her that she could stand there without holding our hands. And then she thought it would be fun to jump up and down and "dance" as well.

I missed one song entirely due to a diaper change -- but at least she requested it!

She was a little grouchy when we moved to floor work and I didn't have a separate set of "bones" (handweights) for her to play with, but she didn't pitch a fit, she just got a little whiney.

When we did the abs/glutes routine, she sat on my stomach, giggling at the way I was bouncing her up and down. So I didn't get to do the accompanying arm strength exercises, but my stomach and butt really got a good workout.

Matt showed up just as the last song was starting, but Penny didn't want to leave, so he stayed over by the entrance and talked to her so I could finish up.

All in all, considering she's three, I think she did fantastic.

This morning, on the other hand... was not so good.

She was fine until we told her that no, really, it was time to go and no, we weren't going to watch "just one more" movie on my computer.

Matt asked her if she wanted to wear her jacket, and she said no, meaning "no, I don't want to put on my jacket because I don't want to go," but since it was time to go anyway, we bulled her out the door.

Then she screamed and cried because we wouldn't go back in for her jacket. It really wasn't that chilly this morning; she was just fixating on the jacket as the apparent turning-point. She was still crying when I kissed her goodbye and got into my car, and when I waved to her at the stoplight, it looked like she was still going.

Sigh. You win some, you lose some.

--Liz