So You Think They Can Dance...

We have started watching the show “So You Think You can Dance” as a family.  Toby (for some reason) adores watching dancing and has often been known to spontaneously leap off the couch and break into the most hilarious and inspired dance moves.  I can’t tell if it is the show we love or the impromptu performances we are privy to while watching with Toby.

It is also a great show to watch in short spurts.  On nights that we have 20 min to fill between Mia’s bedtime and Toby’s we will allow him the perfect treat of “watching 2 dances before bedtime”.   More recently, Toby has gotten to be a bit more selective about his dancing watching.  What used to be an easy bargain is now a battle of negotiations.

“OK,” Toby said the other night, “But it has to be two GIRLS dancing.”

Rob and I thought nothing of it the first few times he made this request, but after a few times of him saying this we asked him why.

“Because” he said matter-of-factly, “They are nicer to look at.”

It was my first moment of realization: my baby boy, one day, is going to grow up to be a man.  And sometimes, even now at the mere age of 4, he thinks like one.  What on EARTH is he going to say when he has adolescent HORMONES running through him!?!!?!

But the other night, when I was COMPLETLEY unprepared and TOTALLY on my own (Rob was at soccer, Mia was asleep) Toby and I innocently hit play on the PVR to get caught up on some SYTYCD auditions when a girl in a white SEETHROUGH brazier (FOR REAL) and white see through short shorts came on the stage.

If I hadn’t been immersed in checking my email at the time, I would have caught her BEFORE Toby could notice, but it was actually HE who drew my attention to her by jumping up and down excitedly on the couch and announcing,”Mommy!!!! LOOK!!! Look at this dancer!! I LOVE Her!!!!”

What ensued was the most blatantly-burlesque dance I have ever seen.  Toby and I sat there dumbfounded with our jaws on the floor as we watched her (albeit flawless) moves.  “Wow”, he said at the end of it,  “She is REALLY good.”

I sent him off to bed after that and crossed my fingers that he didn’t make any more manly discoveries that night in the privacy of his bedroom.  

I will end this blog post, not with that closing image, but with a video of Mia’s first ever introduction to So You Think You Can Dance.  This is her, wet haired post bath and already in her jammies, letting loose to “The Beautiful People” by Marilyn Manson.  (You can't hear the song in the video but believe me - it's hard core metal/screaming music.)

I think I’m going to have to start letting them watch Cartoons…