The Seals Came Up With Shiny Boots

Last night was the Christmas concert at Kyle's school, and now that it's over I can admit to how worried I was. Kyle was one of four Kindergarteners chosen at random to have a speaking part in the holiday show called Holiday Zoobilee. He had his part down cold, but he's very prone to distraction, and I'd been anxious for him for the last several days.

I kept having visions of last year's 'end-of-school-year' performance where Kyle knew his lines but when the time came for him to deliver them he was staring, horrified, at the little boy off to one side suffering from a bloody nose. His teachers had to call his name several times before he heard them, and, sure, he said his lines, but the rhythm of the whole poem was thrown off.

Part of me wanted Kyle to do well last night just because I'd look like the parent that didn't practice his lines with him if he screwed them up. But I mostly wanted him to do well because he wanted to do well. Over the last few days he'd made a few comments like, "I wish Wednesday was done already!" and "I'm a little bit nervous about the Christmas concert!" I was terrified that my outgoing wild child had suddenly become too self-conscious and was going to freeze onstage.

There were a few dicey moments when I feared the whole thing was going to go up in flames. Early on during a song Kyle knocked his zebra ears off (I don't know why he was dressed like a zebra, but he was), but he looked down at them and just kept right on singing. Kyle was lined up in the very front row of the chorus right next to the biggest baby in the Kindergarten class, and this child spent the entire performance flailing his arms, turning around backwards, and making an overall nuisance of himself. Visions of the bloody nose incident haunted me, but Kyle just ignored him and kept right on singing. Kyle even lost a zebra stripe at one point, but he just bent over, picked it up, stuck it back on his shirt, and after a quick check to make sure the rest of his stripes were going to stay put he went right back to singing again.

It turns out that my anxiety was misplaced. Kyle walked right up to the front of the stage when it was his turn, and belted out his lines:

The seals came up with shiny boots that came out just your size. And the zebras have a stripey belt, that you will truly prize.

Don't ask me what in the heck that's supposed to mean or what zoo animals have to do with Christmas. But I was so anxious waiting for Kyle's turn to speak that I couldn't even pay attention to the show, and I still can't tell you what the zoo or seals with boots have to do with anything. I don't even care. My baby said his lines perfectly, and he was so proud of himself afterwards.

Today I'm just glad the whole thing is over. The only thing I can imagine being worse is the first time Natalie has to go onstage for something. If I thought last night was hard I'm going to give myself a stroke before Natalie's dance recital in May--or at least some very serious heartburn. I need to not think about that yet. Where are my antacids?