May 18, 2006
today was a nice periwinkle blue
Today was Henry’s End of Year Music Performance, which may explain yesterday’s mood. But! This time it was good! Fine, really! Okay, Henry was great, if by great you understand me to mean that he stood where he was supposed to and didn’t flail his arms or yell. In fact, he actually SANG some of the songs, although it was a lot for him to sing AND do the hand motions; not surprisingly, he opted for hand motions on about half the songs. But! Still! I didn’t feel like I needed a sedative when it was over, although I really did need a tissue. Another mom said to me afterward, “I bawled the entire time. I knew I would cry, and then I would have a headache. And now my head hurts!” And she laughed and I laughed too, which was HUGE for me.
You know my big fear is always that Henry will be The Kid Who Stands Out, But Not In A Good Way. Today I got to be the mommy of The Kid Who Stands Out In A Really Great Way. Henry’s class sang the Days of the Week song (to the tune of the Addams Family theme, complete with pretend snapping) and then the teacher said, “Can we sing it in Spanish now?’
And Henry said, “We can TRY!” And everyone laughed.
The real surprise, though, was that Henry can DANCE. They played a song about different kinds of dancing–the Pony and the Twist and the Swim–and the big kids danced along. It was a riot, but nothing was funnier than Henry’s twisting, or his really concentrated pony, or–best of all–his free-form jamming. He wound up front and center, rockin’ out, and the boy had his groove thing on.
And I cried. Of course!
After school I took the boys to the video store, because tomorrow is THE FIRST DAY OF SUMMER and I told the boys I would take them to the zoo (you know, three days ago when the weathermen were still saying it was going to be in the 70s all week instead of in the 90s like it REALLY is–where am I going with this? Oh, yes VIDEO STORE). So we’re in the video store and Charlie picks out Spy Kids while Henry goes with Winnie the Pooh: Springtime With Roo. After our huge day of school and play and poking each other with K’Nex, we watched movies: Charlie watched Spy Kids in his room while Henry watched Winnie the Pooh in the family room. I mostly sat with Charlie, as his movie seemed more likely to be scary (and, honestly, how many times do I have to watch the Pooh version of A Christmas Carol–okay, but it’s about Easter, not Christmas, and it’s Easter Bunny Easter not Jesus Easter. Again, where was I going with this? No idea). Once when I came out to check on Henry, he said, “Is Charlie still watching the movie? Is it scary? Maybe I can ask him to tell me about it when he’s done watching it and then I can watch it with him.”‘
I just stared at him because that was such a good solution. They spent all of dinner talking about the movie–Henry would ask a question and Charlie would answer, or, more often, would say, “Mommy, what happened when . . . ” and I would have to admit that I had no idea because I was browsing at the JCrew web site for most of the movie (is summer weight cashmere REALLY practical? Because its SOOOOO pretty). Oh, and ordering a new camera at Amazon! And springing for the overnight shipping because my god how much longer can I go without a camera! Only one more day, apparently.
When Wade came home, Charlie met him at the door yelling “We watched Spy Kids and it’s the COOLEST MOVIE EVER!”
“It’s really cute,” I told Wade.
“NO!” Charlie yelled as he raced out the back door to play spies in the back yard. “It cannot be cute! It has to be COOL!”
Tonight, instead of putting his pajamas on, Charlie was hopping around the room in his t-shirt and underwear, telling me what color each of his stuffed friends was. “Froggie is green AND yellow! But Red Bear is ALL RED!”
“What color are you?” I asked.
“THIS color,” he said.
“What color?”
“I’ll SHOW you!” he said, pulling his clothes off. Then he broke into a manic dance and yelled, “I’M CHARLIE COLORED!”
Posted by Susan @ 7:41 pm • Uncategorized
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May 18th, 2006 at 8:01 pm, MamaChristy Says:
I’m so glad that you finally seemed to have a good day.
Charlie’s color thing slays me. I think that we should all start answering that way on forms and stuff. Race: Christy-colored. Susan-colored. Priceless.
May 18th, 2006 at 8:07 pm, Susan Says:
Christy, one time Charlie held out his hand and said, “Look, Mama, I’m PINK! And that’s your FAVORITE COLOR!”
And yes, I really DID have a good day coming, didn’t I? More to come, I promise! Because it’s summer now! Whoo hoo!
May 18th, 2006 at 8:09 pm, Cmommy Says:
OK, tears in my eyes ’cause I am so happy for Henry and for you! ;-)C
May 18th, 2006 at 9:09 pm, Mir Says:
I love your boys. Love. Them.
May 18th, 2006 at 9:52 pm, adria Says:
Charlie is awesome!
I wished you videotaped Henry’s dancing - it would be great to watch!
Daria’s big pre-k program is next Tuesday night. She is so excited to sing on the big stage.
Happy Summer to you guys!
May 19th, 2006 at 7:29 am, Laura Says:
What a great day! Both your kids are a hoot. I like Henry’s approach to the movie situation.
And my friend Tina calls the naked dance where they shake their fanny at you, “The Tarnation Dance.” Which I find terribly amusing.
May 19th, 2006 at 8:05 am, Jenorama Says:
That was a very fun post.
May 19th, 2006 at 12:53 pm, Mary P. Says:
He’s so smart, your big boy. “Can we sing it in Spanish?” “We can TRY!!”
LMAO
Now I’m trying to come up with a version of “I can sing a rainbow” that incorporates [your name here] colour. Too cute!
May 19th, 2006 at 4:01 pm, marti Says:
Ya’ll just put that Charlie in a box and send him on up here to Minnesota because I want to just eat him up!
May 21st, 2006 at 3:39 pm, Suburban Turmoil Says:
What a great day. It makes me really happy for you.
May 25th, 2006 at 6:45 pm, susie Says:
Oh that Charlie always comes through with those zingers!
Maybe Henry will teach him some of his moves.