Two times this week, the dotter has woken up from her nap sobbing and wailing in pain.  The only thing that works is for me to massage her legs above, behind, and below the knee.  About 20 minutes of that, and some cuddling, and she's ready to go again.

So I googled "growing pains".  I remembered that there was a study done within the past few years that verified that kids have actual growth spurts, their leg bones growing centimeters within a day.  But all the items I found on parenting sites essentially said that doctors recognized the real pain, called it "growth pain", and said it wasn't caused by growth spurts.

Then I found the study I was looking for, which said that, yes, the bone plates of lambs grew overnight or during periods of rest.  Plus, another study that shows that growth occurs in spurts in infants.

To me, the idea that muscles may be painful when stretching to accommodate sudden growth spurts in the legs or arms...well, it just makes sense.  I have no idea why the medical lore denies it.  (Of course, we're talking the sector of society that for many years denied that women suffered from PMS, and called it "hysteria".  It was, admittedly, a century ago.  Nonetheless...)

But my poor baby!  It really hurts!

All of this seems to be accompanied by a developmental spurt, as well.  This means, as always, that the dotter's sleep is disturbed, that she's cranky and fussy, and takes it out on us.  Sigh.  This will last a week or two, then she'll be fully "integrated" again and things will even out.

One of the things I have been considering lately is signing her up for dance class, maybe gymnastics as well.  Something to get her moving and using up some energy and maybe teach her a little fun stuff as well, eh?  So the dance class I was thinking of was jazz dance--fun, move across the floor a lot, very active.

(Part of this is simply because yours truly just loves jazz dance.)

Suddenly this week, the dotter decided she wants to "dance like a princess".

Um.

This meant ballet type moves, garnered from the previews of "The 12 Dancing Princesses" as interpreted by Barbie.

Um.

I had to dig old ballet moves out of my memory--pliés, jetés, etc.

So today, I traipsed off to the local dance studio to sign her up for dance.  I was about to sign for the jazz dance class (damn, it sounds fun!), but that "dance like a princess" stuck in my head.  So I asked the nice lady who was registering me, and she replied, without hesitation, "Oh, ballet, of course!"

Sigh.  No jazz.

So the dotter now has pink tights.  A black leotard.  A pink (shudder) tutu.  (The tutu, alas, though billed as "extra small", is falling off her waist.  Tiney hiney, indeed.)

Technorati: growth spurt, ballet, dancing, children