A Dance To Remember

Daniel is nothing if not dapper, and he's now officially a gentleman.

He has this wild impulse, which he acts on roughly once a week, to "dress up."  Dressing up involves putting on a white shirt  - often a short-sleeved polo-type shirt - and somehow attach to the button and button-hole flaps a black clip-on bow tie.  He likes to put on shiny black pants - something rather polyesterish, if not more reflective - and sometimes he'll add his fisherman's hat to the mix. He really looks like some kind of hipster in that mode - and he barely looks like a child; maybe some guy juggling in Washington Square...

And of course, he loves to dance.  There's something very Michael-Jackson-meets-break-dancing about his style, and all the women marvel at his dexterity, energy and style.

Tonight, Madeleine herself was in dress-up mode.  She had ideas about wearing a princess dress to bed.  She put on a very shiny princess dress, with silver glitter, like she's ready for the prom or a night at a Brighton Beach disco.  And she talked extensively about how elegant and princess-like she was, and said something to the effect that when she has glitter, that's when she's a princess.

And Daniel saw the moment when it arrived.  He took her downstairs, by the hand, and turned on the record player (yes - we have one; it was very hard to find, but Amy got us one).  He started playing what sounded like Favorite Polkas from a Krakow Picnic, and then switched records, putting on, instead, one of my Santana albums.  After a few bars of the "Love Theme from Spartacus," he announced that he didn't like that music, reverted to the Krakow picnic, and danced, sweetly and beautifully, with his glistening little sister.

All of this came at bedtime, but this was not a dance that I could bear to postpone.  A lovely couple, all dressed up, with a cheerful polka to power their dance; no better way to end the day.

(July 22, 2013)