Fall Fest, Elementary Style
Sparkle got excited that there would be a Fall Fest at her elementary school, and talked about it for two weeks.
She was very excited to have an event on the calendar about her, boxed in purple.
Most events on our color-coded calendar appear to be my darling husband's yellow highlighted schedule for work, and Dino's red band engagements. Irish has drama club, and Boy Scouts weekly in blue, and Scouting also gets a red band for Dino. I get doctor appointments, and classes for maintaining my certification in green. My DH and I will highlight who is responsible for getting kids to and from their gigs, like RED-YELLOW-BLUE on Scouting means DH drives the boyos, and BLUE-PURPLE-GREEN means I am responsible for carting Irish and Sparkle to and from the YMCA for swimming.
But tonight was a purple box with green, for a girls' night out. Sparkle loved her glow-in-the-dark admissions band. The gym had pounding music, and dancing lights. When the DJ put lasers on the floor in patterns to the music, all of the kids looked like kittens trying to step on or grab the strobing patterns skittering across the floor.
The DJs had a banner that they did weddings and birthday parties, and they were very good at having activities that kept the kids going and moving: limbo, "The Hokey Pokey," "The Electric Slide," a game of hot potato using inflatable pumpkins, snake dances, break dance spinning on the floor, and hula hoop sessions.
I bought Sparkle pizza, popcorn, and a cupcake. She was delighted. I drank the pop, since for Sparkle, soda "tastes like burning." I always think of my friend Seanan McGuire when Sparks says that; it's a phrase I've heard the Pumpkin Princess use. Of course, McGuire was talking about tasting poison berries for fun when she uttered the phrase, and I'd like to avoid that scenario with Sparkle.
I ended up doing a bit of directing for several of the big games, along with a few other parents. One said to me, "It's always we teachers who just can't stand it anymore, and hop in, isn't it? They depend on us." I realized I'd taken teacher classes with her before, but she recognized me first. I picked out several teachers in the crowd after that; I recognized them all by the bright, "aren't we all having FUN!" smiles beamed out at the kids having a good time, and realized my face was the same. These smiles start out fixed, and become real as we see the little ones having such a wonderful time.
Another teacher who recognized me first was one from Sparkle's old elementary school, the one she still cries and cringes from when we drive past. This teacher, who'd had Sparkle run screaming through her classroom on several of my daughter's wild runs through the building said she hadn't recognized my daughter at first, because she was doing so well. Sparkle ran up and hugged her, because sometimes their classes do things together, and this teacher is recognized as a loving, caring adult. Sparkle told us that this teacher's underdesk was a safe place, but she didn't need it anymore. I guess that answers whether Sparkle remembers about her Kindergarten year.
Sparkle kept finding packs of kids doing things, and would join in the activities, not talking, but smiling and enjoying herself. I noted that as the music became more boom-boom, Sparkle started covering her ears more and more, and getting flashes of uncertainty. When she looped around the gym and came to me in a hug, I asked her, "Are you ready to go yet?" and Sparkle nodded and said her body "shook too much, so while this has been REAL FUN, it's time to go now."
Still, Sparkle skipped all the way back to our van, and said, very seriously that she thought she'd sleep well tonight, because she had played and danced until she was full.
She was very excited to have an event on the calendar about her, boxed in purple.
Most events on our color-coded calendar appear to be my darling husband's yellow highlighted schedule for work, and Dino's red band engagements. Irish has drama club, and Boy Scouts weekly in blue, and Scouting also gets a red band for Dino. I get doctor appointments, and classes for maintaining my certification in green. My DH and I will highlight who is responsible for getting kids to and from their gigs, like RED-YELLOW-BLUE on Scouting means DH drives the boyos, and BLUE-PURPLE-GREEN means I am responsible for carting Irish and Sparkle to and from the YMCA for swimming.
But tonight was a purple box with green, for a girls' night out. Sparkle loved her glow-in-the-dark admissions band. The gym had pounding music, and dancing lights. When the DJ put lasers on the floor in patterns to the music, all of the kids looked like kittens trying to step on or grab the strobing patterns skittering across the floor.
The DJs had a banner that they did weddings and birthday parties, and they were very good at having activities that kept the kids going and moving: limbo, "The Hokey Pokey," "The Electric Slide," a game of hot potato using inflatable pumpkins, snake dances, break dance spinning on the floor, and hula hoop sessions.
I bought Sparkle pizza, popcorn, and a cupcake. She was delighted. I drank the pop, since for Sparkle, soda "tastes like burning." I always think of my friend Seanan McGuire when Sparks says that; it's a phrase I've heard the Pumpkin Princess use. Of course, McGuire was talking about tasting poison berries for fun when she uttered the phrase, and I'd like to avoid that scenario with Sparkle.
I ended up doing a bit of directing for several of the big games, along with a few other parents. One said to me, "It's always we teachers who just can't stand it anymore, and hop in, isn't it? They depend on us." I realized I'd taken teacher classes with her before, but she recognized me first. I picked out several teachers in the crowd after that; I recognized them all by the bright, "aren't we all having FUN!" smiles beamed out at the kids having a good time, and realized my face was the same. These smiles start out fixed, and become real as we see the little ones having such a wonderful time.
Another teacher who recognized me first was one from Sparkle's old elementary school, the one she still cries and cringes from when we drive past. This teacher, who'd had Sparkle run screaming through her classroom on several of my daughter's wild runs through the building said she hadn't recognized my daughter at first, because she was doing so well. Sparkle ran up and hugged her, because sometimes their classes do things together, and this teacher is recognized as a loving, caring adult. Sparkle told us that this teacher's underdesk was a safe place, but she didn't need it anymore. I guess that answers whether Sparkle remembers about her Kindergarten year.
Sparkle kept finding packs of kids doing things, and would join in the activities, not talking, but smiling and enjoying herself. I noted that as the music became more boom-boom, Sparkle started covering her ears more and more, and getting flashes of uncertainty. When she looped around the gym and came to me in a hug, I asked her, "Are you ready to go yet?" and Sparkle nodded and said her body "shook too much, so while this has been REAL FUN, it's time to go now."
Still, Sparkle skipped all the way back to our van, and said, very seriously that she thought she'd sleep well tonight, because she had played and danced until she was full.