Tuesday afternoon was baby’s first school show. We left work with the bell and had our nanny meet us downstairs with baby clean and dressed in the requisite white shorts and shirt. She even took the initiative to put gel in his hair.
But even though we got there as fast as we could, the only seats left were in the back third of the auditorium. So we handed baby off to one of his teachers and then settled down to wait for the program. The place was bustling with movement and conversation for about twenty minutes until the director called the audience to order. We all quieted down, but our silence stood in contrast to the newly audible screaming, crying, laughing, chatting voices of children backstage. Quite a few of the noises were loud and unpleasant, and one of the teachers even came into the audience to ask the parents in front of us for a pacifier or some toy or snack to help calm their son down. Fortunately we didn’t receive this type of request, and I wasn’t able to distinguish baby’s voice amongst the many others.
After an introductory ballet number by four little girls, baby’s class, Nursery I, was first. They sang a total of six songs, each one highlighting two or three different students who were dressed to match the lyrics of their particular number. There were birds, flowers, a sun, butterflies, and, my favorite, seeds! Yes, baby’s frock showcased an image of grass, dirt, and seeds (i.e. popcorn kernels and sunflower seeds glued onto an arrangement of blue, green, and brown fabric).
The students were lined up across the stage and everyone was supposed to sing along, clap, or shake their maracas on cue. I honestly didn’t know what to expect from one-year olds, but most of them did really well, and, I’m not biased or anything, my little seed stood above the rest. True, he didn’t always stay on the line. He kept dancing and straying a few steps towards the front of the stage, but he looked like such a big boy doing all of the choreography, and he didn’t pull at his costume, or run around, or cry (like some of his older classmates). And he was definitely the most animated with his swaying back and forth and his enthusiastic clapping.
I’d like to think that they saved his number for the end as a type of grand finale. His job as a seed was to crouch down while the music mentioned things like sunshine and rain.
Then, after building up the appropriate amount of suspense, he stood up, threw his hands in the air, and grew!
We were very, very proud. The applause was thundering, and baby joined right in, in congratulating himself.
I almost cried, and I wanted to tell everyone in the room that, that was my son--the cutest, most talented seed on the stage.
All of the parents had to retrieve their kids after their act was complete, so baby sat in my lap while the older kids performed. He watched the stage so intently and clapped and smiled in all of the appropriate places. After two acts of this, however, he had to leak through his new white shorts and remind me that he is still, in fact, a baby.
