Last week was the holiday concert at Lilian’s daycare. This is the third holiday concert they’ve hosted since she started going there, but the first one that I actually attended. They tend to hold their special events on Fridays (when my Dad is watching her). Plus, you know, she wasn’t exactly talking for the last two. I love that daycare does so many nifty things for the kids, but I just couldn’t justify leaving work early to watch my kid not sing.
This time around? I knew they’d been practicing hard (they give us a daily sheet saying what they did that day, and the past few weeks have heavily featured practice sessions). Plus, her teachers seemed genuinely disappointed that she wasn’t going to be at daycare for the concert. So, I told them we’d come at the end of the day so she could participate and I could watch.
Her teacher warned me that it was very likely to end with the kids all in tears, but I assured her that my little ham was going to be fine (her last classroom picture features a lot of teary little faces and my kid mugging for the camera). Spoiler alert! Nailed it.
I dopped Lilian off with her teachers, and then made my way over to the gym. I found a spot in the back, because it didn’t seem like there were a ton of parents in attendance. Rookie mistake! Yeah… now I know that everyone rushes in at the last minute (our kids are all in daycare, after all, one can only assume that everyone was coming straight from work). There was a big crush of people at the front, and everyone was using their phones and iPads to record the concert. I couldn’t see all that well, and I had absolutely no chance of getting any pictures.
(Or any video.)
Which is really too bad… because Lilian was (and I know this sounds like your typical parent-OMG-my-speshul-snowflake, but really she was) hilarious. The kids all walked in, dressed up in red/brown/green, wearing little reindeer antlers and with lipstick-painted red noses. They started singing Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. One little girl saw her mom, freaked out, and started crying. And then they were pretty much all crying. Which is usually how it goes. But not Lilian! She was bouncing up and down, singing her head off, and bopping her head back and forth.
(I have no idea where she gets it.)
(Ok, I’m pretty sure I know where she gets it.)
They just sang the one song (adorable and short, the best kind of holiday concert) and then everyone rushed up to hug their kids. And take a million pictures. Because everyone always has to take a million pictures.
All of the kids got a little book wrapped up with their name on it. And the parents all got a little present wrapped up with our kid’s name on it (spoiler alert! it was a candy dish that she helped them paint). I think she might actually have been more excited about the present for me. “Dis to Mama! Dis mama’s!”
They also had “Santa” there for all of the kids to meet. I don’t have any pictures of this, but I assure you that it looked an awful lot like that time I tried to introduce her to the Easter Bunny. The only difference is that her hair is longer and I’ve lost maybe five pounds.
It was great to meet some of the other parents. I know a few of them, especially the ones who’ve been going there as long as we have. But, we’re all on different schedules, so there were a lot of parents there that I’ve never seen before. It was also wonderful to see how much fun the kids have at daycare, and how Lilian’s teachers really love the kids and enjoy working with them. We pretty much lucked into the center… they were fairly new when we started, so they still had plenty of openings. I think they actually have a waiting list now. I know I can’t imagine sending her anywhere else.
Next time they have a holiday concert, I will plan on attending. And getting there early enough to find a seat in the front!