11:04 a.m. - March 06, 2006
Father Daughter Program - And Muffins To Boot
Thursday was a very special day for Katie and me.
It was the annual father�s dinner at the Montessori school here in C�ville.
And let me tell you, it was a treat!
Now, I am having a hard time keeping track of who is who, as there are 24 kids in the school, as there are two Hannahs, and another Katie and a Kate, to go along with J. D., Raphael, Evan, Justice, Delaney, Wes, Lanie, Betsy, Basim, Luka, Emily, two Sams, Tayla, etc. etc.
Actually, they all kind of all blend together into a whirling dervish of 3-5 year old kids. (Actually, some may be six because they go to Montessori in the morning, then go to Kindergarten in the afternoon).
So while I�m not all that up on who is who, I do know it was fun.
We sat at a table with a couple of Wabash professors and their boys. (We have a little faction of Wabash people, with six parents out of 24 having some connection with the college, and at least one other who used to work here). Though I think she wanted to sit with her friend Tayla, however, Tayla had both grandfathers plus her dad there so she had a full table already.
The dinner was a spaghetti dinner served family style. Before dinner, we all stood around in a huge circle, and all the children said what they were thankful of, if they wanted to. Katie said she was thankful of her mommy, daddy, sister and kitties. Awwwwww�
But after everyone was done, and we were released to the buffet line, who was FIRST in line? Katie! She sprinted right to the table. Oh, well.
The food was great � taquitos, spaghetti and meatballs (Katie helped make them!), salad, and brownies and cookies, along with lemonade. Katie was reasonably well behaved at dinner. Most all of the kids were, really, which is incredible.
After dinner, we retired to the other room for a program. This would be the same program that was presented at the mother / daughter brunch. But the big difference is that this was at night, and the other was during the morning, so I think the kids were a bit tired and crankier, perhaps.
The first thing was a little dance they did. They did a line dance thing to �Willie and the Hand Jive� where they would go down the line with a partner, and at the end were supposed to high-five. The boys were supposed to be greasers and the girls were wearing poodle skirts � it was a riot.
Then they did a tango down the line as well � and Raphael was with Katie and held a rose in his teeth. Unfortunately, my camera was recharging so I missed that picture, but I did get this one:
Then Tayla did a solo dance, and after that it was time for their yoga. Yes, that�s right! Every week the kids to about 15 minutes of simple yoga, and they really like it. Katie sometimes does yoga with Liz as well, and discusses some simple poses like �down dog� (as Katie calls it).
Then came the violin recital. Oof! It wouldn�t be so bad if they played one at a time, but it was ear grinding to hear four violins just about a half-step off from each other. Yikes.
After intermission (yes, intermission) � they did some solo stuff like a magic trick, a piano recital (�Ode To Joy� � just like Schroeder, with a toy piano just like Schroeder), a tap dance number, a couple of silly songs, and then the whole class came out again to sing some Spanish songs.
The outfits? Darling.
They can count up to 60 in Spanish, but they stopped at 20!
After that, came the finale. �Sticky Bubble Gum� is a silly kid�s song that allows them to pretend bubble gum is sticking parts of their body to another. After they did that, they brought the Dads up to do it with them, but Dads really can�t stick their foot to their nose very easily. Medic!
I was so proud of Katie. Even though I knew she was tired � she had fun and really enjoyed herself. We had a parent / teacher conference recently and she was �well liked, bright, creative, and thoughtful� who �sometimes talked a little bit too much.� Nurture, not nature, baby!
She still talked about the program this weekend. I�m glad it�s so positive for her.
Today, we also did something special. It�s Liz�s birthday so Katie and I got up early to make blueberry muffins for breakfast, just the two of us. Katie helped mix and stir and pour the batter into the muffin tins, but she wanted me to stir in the blueberries because �she might break them!�
It says a lot about her heart when she cares about broken blueberries in special muffins for her Mommy.
I feel so blessed.
