Quinn Cheers

The biggest thing that school has done for Quinn is give her the confidence to finally separate from us enough to actually participate in things she loves. We still talk in great depth about what to expect. She does not like being surprised. Or unprepared. Or uninformed. But she is more willing to take a chance and give new things a try.

So when she wanted to be in a week-long, twelve hour cheer camp this summer, I was cautiously hopeful as I hit "register." And she showed me! Not only did she do it, she killed it! We came home on the first day to find her teaching her brother and sister how to do stunts. Don't worry - she and Fiona were the bases and Dec was the flyer ... that totally won't end badly. Maybe. She woke up each day excited to go and couldn't wait to tell us and show us everything she learned that day. Show and tell included cartwheels in the parking lot of the theater and front walkovers in the living room ...

Since Quinn was just over a year old, she has been fascinated by cheerleading. If Mike flips through channels and stumbles across a cheer competition, her head immediately whips around. If we are at a school event, she is just drawn to the high school cheerleaders. It may have been the best week of her life! 

Mike, Fiona, Nanny J, and I were all able to watch her performance on the last day of camp. We need to work a bit on her game face ... she has it during practice, but got so excited when we got there that she was a bit distracted. As she gets more used to performing, the game face will come. She did so great and we had the best time cheering her on. Fiona had her game face on and showed up in a dress, fancy hat, high heels, and a purse to demonstrate her support!

We couldn't have been prouder, watching her passion overcome her fear. Not only did she participate, she had fun and felt successful. Go, Quinn, go! [Sidenote: her favorite thing to learn and Fiona's favorite thing to learn from her was the "sassy walk."]