Mother's Day Two Days Early

Today was our Mother's Day presentation at school. The mothers are all invited to come and hear three songs that the kids have learned, to eat a few treats that the kids have made, and to get their Mother's Day card and present. Each class is done separately, and I asked to do mine in my room because I knew not a single one would sing if we were in the big recess room. It was supposed to start at 10:45am, so they could just leave with their moms afterwards. The invitation was addressed specifically to the moms, but of course about half the fathers showed up and a fair number of grandmothers. Only one baby sister, who started crying half way through our show.

At 10:40, we cleaned up and I had the kids all ready and prepared so that at 10:45 when the hordes came throught he doors, the children would be calm and ready. As double the amount of people that I was expecting came through the door, I did have a hard time keeping the kids from running to their parents, but luckily only one escaped and he came back willingly after his hug. I had the children sing a few fingerplay songs to get their attention and to give the parents time to jockey into best photo taking position. Then we started.

It went pretty well. One of my boys lay down flat on his back and covered his eyes the entire time, while his twin sister sang loud enough for both of them. My best singer suddenly stopped in the middle of the second song when she realized her own mother was nowhere to be seen in the crowd. I didn't realize this until after the show when they all ran to their parents and she was alone. Mom came in a few minutes later. I only sent home three reminders with the time they should be at school underlined... Another mother came to me a little later and asked when the presentation was going to start. I guess she missed it too, but came in just as everyone was getting up to go to their parents. As every other parent was holding a videocamera, I suggested she get a copy from another parent.

At 11 o'clock I excused myself for a few minutes to see Michael's performance. The children didn't mind at all. They had their parents and chocolate covered pretzels that they had made the day before. I don't think the moms got any of the treats as the kids devoured them very quickly. We had also made fruit kebabs, so in the end everyone got something.

Here's Michael waving to me as he came in for his presentation. I was very glad that he refrained from running over to me.


Here's the second song that Michael sang "M-O-M-M-Y." He always pulls up and shows his tummy when he's a little embarassed. However, he soon forgot his shyness and became hyper instead.



Here's the third song that Michael sang. Everyone thought it was so cute that he tried to hug Audrey, except for Audrey. My Dad called it, "His first rejection by a girl!"



Fridays are long days for me, but when May asked if we would go out with her and Annie after school, I said yes because I know how crazy her schedule is. She's wanted to take Michael shopping for a long time, but I made her promise to only buy one outfit each for Michael and Jeremy. She was also on the hunt for Mother's Day gifts for her mother and mother-in-law, whos' appreciation for gifts is in direct proportion to the amount of money spent on them. Thus, May always does her gift shopping in upscale Japanese department stores.

So, needless to say, Michael was totally bored, but luckily there was an "educational" toys display that Michael could play with while May kept on running over with different clothes. I asked that she refrain from buying mostly white clothes as my boys are very much boys. In the end I think she ended up buying more than my imposed limit, and the price tags were outrageous. Who would pay more than $50 for a short sleeved polo type shirt for a three year old? Well, obviously some people do. But now, I'm afraid to let him wear it in case he ruins it. I'm afraid to wash it in case the colours run. What am I supposed to do with it, let alone all the other similarly priced clothes she bought?

I was soon bored as well because I don't even bother to look around at clothes when the price tags are so high. Again, my dad's training kicking in. By 9pm, I told her we had to leave so that Michael (and I!) could get to bed, and left her and Annie to continue shopping alone while we took a cab home. It was pouring rain out, but I didn't even have to get out my umbrella as the doorman ushered us into the cab using his patio table sized umbrella to keep us dry.

We were glad to get home, although I had to be careful not to let the boys' new clothes get wet as we ran into our apartment. Expensive clothes are way too much hassle...