Strictly Come Dancing will forever be linked with Sophie in my mind. The start of the new series has brought back memories of those last few weeks of being pregnant with Sophie – from 37 weeks onwards, it seemed that every time I settled down on the sofa to watch Strictly on a Saturday night, I’d start getting strong Braxton Hicks that would make me wonder whether I was about to go into labour. It wasn’t a surprise that I eventually did go into labour in the early hours of a Sunday morning having watched Strictly in between bouts of Braxton Hicks contractions the previous evening!
After Sophie arrived, Saturday nights were spent watching Strictly whilst cuddling/feeding a newborn. That first Saturday night after Sophie’s arrival made me feel quite emotional. “I’m glad that Sophie’s here,” I said to Michael, in between sobs, “but I miss Pod!” (my nickname for my bump). At that point, Strictly was still more linked in my mind to “Pod” than to Sophie! I missed those little kicks from the inside and the feeling of being pregnant – a feeling that I remember vividly from the early days with Jessica too and one that took a good couple of weeks to start easing.
Then, when Sophie was six weeks’ old, we were invited to the children’s Christmas party at 10 Downing Street and lo and behold, halfway through the party, the Strictly celebrities and pro dancers appeared! Sophie enjoyed quite a few cuddles from some of the Strictly stars and as we settled down to watch the programme on Saturday night, there she was being cuddled by Sophie Ellis-Bextor in the video clip, looking back over the previous week of training. Sophie Ellis-Bextor even mentioned that she had enjoyed cuddles with a six-week old baby called Sophie – my little Sophie!
These days, we usually get our Strictly fix after the girls have gone to bed, but Sophie was particularly unsettled last weekend and in the end we gave up trying to get her to sleep and took her downstairs for cuddles while we watched Strictly. It was quite clear that Sophie had no intention of sleeping after that – she was completely glued to the TV, watching the dancing intently and trying to copy some of the moves. She grabbed Mummy’s hands and tried to quickstep with her, leaned in for a kiss when she saw a couple do the same, pulled the most adorable tango face I’ve ever seen, and even attempted a couple of lifts!
Given that Mummy and Daddy met through the ballroom dancing society, perhaps it is not too surprising that Sophie is already showing a love of dance. Jessica loves to dance too but not quite to the same extent. Whenever Sophie hears music, it seems she can’t help but dance along – even when watching CBeebies, she dances along to the theme tunes and makes up a different dance for each one. I’m beginning to think that perhaps I need to find some baby ballet classes for my little dancer!
Oh wow! What a fun story! I think my girls would love strictly, but we haven’t watched it with them yet… Maybe it should be our Satyrday night treat!
Thanks Claire – am hoping Sophie doesn’t make staying up for it a regular occurrence although it was fun to watch her joining in! 🙂
Aww! Bless her! She is such a cutie!
What lovely memories you have about Strictly and many more to come! 😀 x
Thanks Kim – so lovely to look back on those moments 🙂
Oh, how lovely! What wonderful memories to associate with Strictly 🙂 I hope that Sophie continues to love to dance x
Thanks Sara – I hope so too! 🙂
Watching Strictly was always a special time in my family and I have great memories of dancing on my dads feet! We love it too and the boys stay up late and we guess the scores. I bet there are thousands of families who do the same. I love that we are making those memories for our kids too. Perhaps Sophie needs enrolling in dance class? A super memory and indeed a proud moment! #loudnproud
Ah so glad that you and your boys are making memories watching it together. We love to guess the scores too 🙂
I love this post so much! What an amazing link to Strictly! Must have been a lovely shock to see her on TV 🙂
My daughter danced from a very early age – she would bounce along in time to music even before she could stand unaided. From a very young age she was able to interpret music into different styles of dance. And she’s never looked back! It sounds like Sophie could be just like that.
Thank you for linking with Loud ‘n’ Proud 🙂
Thanks Sarah – there’s definitely something in her that has to dance, will be interesting to see how it develops 🙂
Hi Louise, I love the picture, your Sophie looks unimpressed by Sophie Ellis-Bextor if her yawn is anything to go by! I’ve never watched Strictly, but can imagine it gets the foot tapping if you have any sense of rhythm at all and you could have a dance star in the making!
xx
Thanks Debbie – she was quite underwhelmed by the whole experience, I think – but I guess at six weeks’ old, that’s fairly expected! 🙂
Sophie’s dancing sounds so cute! Sounds like she definitely takes after the two of you. Will she be wanting to watch every week now? xx
Thanks Maddy – she went off to bed a little more readily last week so didn’t get the opportunity to watch it again but I’m sure she’ll get to see snippets on catch-up TV! 🙂
All what a lovely memory to capture. I love the history of you meeting on the ballroom and now “little sophie” getting involved already at six weeks. So cute. Thank you so much for linking up to Share With Me. I hope to see you again tomorrow for another great round. Why not invite your friends to come share too? I would love to get to know more bloggers and widen my blogger share with me circle. All posts, old and new are welcome. #sharewithme
Thank you Jenny, lovely to link up 🙂
Aww, what a sweet story and a great memory to associate with your pregnancy. How fun that your daughter is taking after you and your husband already! My son is 18 months old and loves to dance too! 🙂 #sharewithme
Thanks Sharisse – it is lovely to see little ones dancing, isn’t it? Glad your son loves to dance too 🙂
Ah, that’s lovely. The Tubblet and I love watching Strictly together while Rev T endures the whole thing and can’t wait for it to be over! #sharethejoy
Lol, glad you and the Tubblet enjoy it at least! 🙂
This is such a lovely story and one that I’m sure will go down in your family archives to be retold for years to come! Thanks for linking up at #ShareTheJoy and hope to see you again next week x
Thank you Michelle, lovely to link up to #ShareTheJoy again 🙂