April was fun. After my birthday, we celebrated Kitten's. She turned four. Jay and I attended her "special persons day" at school. It used to be known as "grandparents day" but they changed it to accommodate all the kids who don't have grandparents around. Lots of older folks head south for the winter and aren't back in April and it would be heartbreaking to have some little preschooler all alone while the rest of the class showed off for their grandparents. It was a hot ticket: parking around the school was hard to find. Jay ended up dropping me at the door while he went in search of a spot. I went into the gym, where the kids were all lined up on the basketball court. I was behind them and could see Kitten scanning the crowd, looking for us. I called her name and she turned. She did a happy dance when she saw me but when Jay arrived, her joy was complete. He's her favorite. Once he arrived, I may as well have been a cardboard cut out. I don't mind. He's my favorite, too.
The kids sang us several songs they'd learned, then we played in the gym for awhile and Kitten introduced us to some of her friends. Then we went upstairs for refreshments and arts and crafts. We made cards with stamps, crayons and stickers: I was in my element.
The whole show lasted about an hour, then Jay and I hit our favorite meat market on our way out of town. All in all, a good trip!
The last week of April was all about our warrior princess, Xena. She had one of the lead roles in her school play! They put on The Secret Garden and she had the part of Colin, the invalid. She played the part with her long red hair tucked up into a newsboy cap. She looks like her dad at that age.
I have to say, I thought the show was excellent and Xena was very, very good in it. All the kids were good, in that they knew their lines and hit their marks on cue but Xena actually created a character! Of course, she had the best part, as she got to throw several tantrums and get really angry in several scenes. But in the second act, when she rose from her wheel chair and walked, she was absolutely brilliant. It was as if she channelled her great grandpa as he worked on his own physical therapy after breaking his neck. She echoed his posture, his unsteadiness and the way he moved his legs, like she'd been studying him and filing it all away in her memory just to pull it out and use it in this part. Dad died nearly three years ago; I doubt Xena consciously remembers those details but she clearly drew on more than just her imagination up on that stage.
I know, I'm probably biased but I really thought she was fabulous! So fabulous that I went to both performances. The opening night was Friday and Jay and I joined Ty, Megan, the other kids and Peg (Megan's mom), who came in from South Dakota to see the show and spend some time with her grand kids. The Sunday show was a matinee and I brought my Mom to see it. Mom, Peg and I all agreed that Xena was mesmerizing and the best actress up there. So it's not just me; all her grand mothers think she's wonderful.
The kids had Saturday off from the show because several of the cast members had made the state-wide honors choir, which performed in Mahtomedi, a town east of St. Paul, on Saturday. And yes, of course Xena was one of the kids chosen to sing.
The honors choir consisted of 4-500 middle schoolers from all over Minnesota. They'd had to audition for the choir and after they'd made it, they practiced the songs with their music teachers at their disparate schools. They didn't get to sing together until they were all under one roof on the day of the performance. The kids had to be at the mega-church hosting the show (churches have the best acoustics!) early in the morning and spend the whole day learning to sing as a choir. The show was at 5:30. Jay and I arrived on site with about 40 minutes to spare. The place was packed with family members and the singers. I ran into Xena in the ladies room about a half hour before the show began. I asked if she was nervous. She laughed and said she wasn't nervous, just excited and tired but the day had been a blast.
We met Ty, Megan and Peg and we found seats together. The girl's choir sang first and they were simply wonderful! It's hard to believe that they hadn't been singing together for months. It's a testament to the talent and skill of the choir directors that they formed such a brilliant choir out of all those young kids in a single day! In fact, the five of us had joked about sneaking out after Xena's part was done but by the time the girls had finished, we could hardly wait to see what the boys were going to do. The boys' choir was only about half the size of the girls but they were just as good and fun to hear. The entire show was over in about an hour and every minute of it was fabulous.
So that's how we finished up April.
With the beginning of May, Zach has gone back to work. He thoroughly enjoyed his winter of being a stay at home dad but now its time to start making bank again and building up the downpayment on their first house. #6 is nearly seven months old and she's growing as fast as her dad did. She's in the 90% for weight and 95% for height. When Zach was a toddler, he outgrew his clothes so fast I had to get really creative. Even at Goodwill, I couldn't afford to buy him a whole new wardrobe every month. My mom and I came up with patterns for shirts and pants for him with extra long arms and legs and elastic cuffs at the wrists and ankles so they'd grow with him. We made a lot of his clothes out of old t-shirts. Sometimes I can't believe how thin our money had to stretch back when our kids were tiny. Sara is working part time, so once a week, #6 comes to hang with us for a few hours. She is an absolutely delightful little girl! All my grand kids are delightful. Seriously, I say that as a completely objective observer. They really are a cut above average.
#6 has gone with me several times to the Picket Fence and she greets all the ladies there as though they've been her best friends for years. When I take her to visit Grandma Punkin at the senior living complex, she's the bell of the ball! She behaves like she's trying to sell them all something. In Gr. Punkin's apartment, #6 sings, dances and all together behaves as though there's no where on earth she'd rather be and no people she'd rather be with.
The only time she ever fusses is when she looks at Jay. I think it's because he looks too much like her daddy but is clearly NOT her daddy, so she thinks he's just a fraud. His existence seems to enrage her. She'll get over it. Anyway, he's still Kitten's favorite.
Both girls will grow up to look just like their moms: lucky girls!
I've been able to spend a lot of time with BoopityBoop, too. They're almost done with kindergarten. They are in a Spanish immersion program and it seems to be working! For most of the year they didn't like not understanding their teacher but all of a sudden, the language sort of clicked for them and now they seem pretty comfortable speaking some Spanish, at least. They are currently working very hard at learning to ride their bikes without the training wheels. I'm sure they'll be zooming around on 2 wheels by Father's Day. It's so much fun watching the two of them! Despite their obvious likenesses, they have very different approaches. Boop will break down the mechanics of an action and practice until she can do it; trial and error. Boopity takes more of a zen attitude: she visualizes herself doing some new skill until he internalizes it and voila! She can do it. Or its really that weird thing identical twins have. Maybe, Boopity just lets Boop do all the work, knowing that she'll always have access to Boop's entire skill set.
A few months back, Katie had the girls at the pool at the Y. The lifeguard told Kate that if the girls could demonstrate that they could float on both their faces and their backs for 20 seconds, on their own, they could earn wristbands that meant they can swim in the pool without an adult in the water with them. The girls were all in! Both passed the dead man's float easily but both sank like stones when they tried to float on their backs. The
lifeguard explained the mechanics of back floating to them and gave them a half hour to practice the skill. Boop worked nonstop until she had mastered it and when the lifeguard came back, she floated at will and earned her wristband.
Boopity had gotten bored after she sank the first time she tried to float and had spent the half hour playing in the water. Katie had no expectation of her passing the test but Boop earned her wristband, Boopity wanted to give it another go; she stood in the water with her eyes closed and her arms outstretched, flung herself backward onto the water...and floated!
She got her wristband, too.
Katie asked her how she did it and she said "I just believed I could do it and I could."
Maybe I should call them BorgityBorg.