Talent Show Acts

Brenna and Noah had their elementary talent show tonight and I couldn't have been prouder of both of them.  Although, I must say this night meant different things to me for them.  For me--about Brenna, this was a night of fun with friends.  Brenna was with her best friends doing what she liked to do!  They had a choreographer design their dance steps and I really had little to do with her act.  Another mom had stepped up before I could and was sort of in charge of this act.  I knew Brenna was with her friends and I didn't mind.

For Noah, I was much more connected.  Harry's mom choreographed the basic dance steps of Noah's act, but it was another mom, Erin and I, who finessed the dance to its near perfect state.  I was really pleased; so I was really involved in Noah's act.  I organized and ran the practices, arranged for the music, provided the practice venue  and worked on costuming choices.  The other part was that Noah was pretty instrumental in getting the boys together to do this.  I don't really know what he did, whether it was at recess, lunch or during class, but he knew exactly who to invite and formed a great group of boys for his act.  I felt proud of Noah when I figured this out. 

So, we practiced 3-4 times a week.  Practices were fun and reminded me of when we did Tobin's act.  Noah so much wanted to follow suit and dress up as girls.  So, I was trying to think of songs that would work, googled it and came up with Shania Twain's "Man, I feel like a Woman."  It was the perfect song.  And off we went. 

It was really interesting to watch.  Some of the boys were really stiff and you could tell they were uncomfortable with the movements.  Others of the boys seemed completely comfortable doing this dance as a "girl" and embraced it.  Noah seemed somewhere in the middle.  I was so proud of Noah when after the first couple of practices, he suggested some movements to the dance that improved it quite a bit.  He suggested the wave and it worked great!  I was surprised at how often the boys brought their "costumes" and high heels to practice in.  And in between takes, they would play basketball in high heels.  It truly was a sight to behold.  This was just one of those things that tickled my funny bone for life and made me happy.

We found out the boys were last in the line up.  I was a little worried that if it ran long, people would leave and miss the "finale" act.  But I just had to hope in my heart that it would work out.  And it did!  As the boys were introduced by the 5th grade girls, the anticipation of the finale grew!  I am not sure why, but the music didn't start right away!  It took the perfect amount of time to get it started, the fever of anticipation grew, but didn't fade away.  And then the music started!  The 5th grade girls were at the edge of the stage, cheering the boys on.  Noah's face was one perpetual grin from ear to ear.  He was having such a good time!  How can any Momma's heart not beat louder for that.  It was everything I could have hoped for.  And one of the boys who was sooooo nervous before came over and said, "I did it without any mistakes."  It was the best!  I loved every minute of this night for Noah. 

He is leaving a great tradition for the next set of 5th grade boys to follow.