In Which I Attend The Spring Concert

    It absolutely confounds me how this happened. I have three kids, all grown up. I managed to mostly escape the horrific experience that is the elementary school Spring concert. With my oldest child, I attended once. I managed to never have to attend another one. In my defense, I was young and foolish.


    They are all, without exception, horrible. No matter how talented we think our children are, and they are, individually; I find that when put into groups called the 4th or 5th grade band, or school orchestra, and in numbers of children greater than 2, things can get really ugly. Musically speaking.


    Anyway, I generally escaped my own children performing in these Springtime rituals. So how is it that I now find myself attending those of my friends kid? The two most amazing things to me? 1, That most of the music was unrecognisable, and 2, That after all these years, it hasn't gotten any better.


    I of course attended tonight's for the benefit of my BKF (best kid friend), since she asked me to attend. I couldn't say no. Well, to tell the truth, the absolutely adorable little Hispanic sisters that were sitting in front of us, and that we made friends with, and played with, during said concert, made it much more fun. They were the cutest little things I have seen in a long time.

   
    Cherub's orchestra was the better of the two that played. As for the other one, let's just say that I didn't enjoy their performance.


    After the orchestras, the chorus came out. My BKF was in both choruses that performed. They were actually pretty good. To get that many kids to sing in tune is a neat trick. And the songs were recognisable.


    I think my favorite part of the whole night was when the Cherub came out to sit with her orchestra, and she looked over at her mom, her Nana and me, and we all waved at her. Largely. She had given explicit orders for us to not do that. I am just not a rule follower. After all, that is one of the perks of being a parent, getting to embarrass your kids in public. And, after all, they are only this young once.


    If this post is in any way rambling, disjointed or unreadable, I apologise. It's late, and I'm tired. And I will attend the concert again next year, because that's what you do for people you care about.  And I do love you, Cherub!

Adventures in Babysitting

    What a week it's been. Monday, Miss Malia decided to throw her wooden blocks all over the place. I had had enough, especially since a few had come close to making contact with my face. I started picking them up and putting them in their bag.


   Naturally, she objected to this, loudly. I got her to stop by picking up a block, and showing her the number on it. I asked her "What number is this?", and she would answer me, then I'd put it in the bag. I tried to get her to help me, but she wasn't buying it. She did, however, get every number correct. I even took a 6, turned it upside down, and asked her "Now what number is it?"! She got it right, she yelled "9!". I kept flipping it back and forth, while she laughed. "6! 9! 6! 9!". Remember, she's now 20 months old. Eventually, we got all the blocks put back in their bag.  She did start crying again when I closed up the bag. But she got over it quickly.


    This morning, I went to watch the Cherub. I seem to remember her mom, my good friend Kim, telling me to make sure she got all her before school stuff done. This morning, however, the Cherub wasn't cooperating. She told me more than once that she didn't need reminding. I told her that I thought it was part of my job to do so. When we picked her mom up from work, I made a point of asking Kim if it was indeed a part of my job to make sure she gets her before school stuff done.


    It turns out that I was right, but it's a good thing I checked, I wasn't really sure. In the process, I royally pissed off the Cherub. Perhaps I could have waited and asked Kim when Cherub wasn't around, but I am not good at waiting for things like that, I tend to forget. I just hope she will get over her snit, and we can still be friends. After all, she is my BKF (Best Kid Friend).


    Today was unusual, in that I went right from watching Cherub to Miss Malia's house. My alarm went off at 5:45 a.m. and I left my house at 6:10. I finally got home at 3:40. It was a very long day. Made even longer by the fact that I had intended to go to bed early, but one of my very favorite movies was on, so I had to watch it. It was People Will Talk, starring Cary Grant, from 1951. It's an absolutely awesome movie.


   All this, and it's only Wednesday! What other exciting things are in store for me the rest of this week?