Charlie's Kindergarten Concert

Charlie's school held their annual Kindergarten concert at the end of the school year, on June 6th.  This gave the kindergartners all year to prepare.  The theme for the concert was "A Night of Patriotic Music".  Each month, Charlie came home singing one-liners from well known songs.

Because his class was a half-day class, and due to budgetary constraints, he did not go to music throughout the year.  Instead, their teacher taught the songs to them.  I'm impressed with how well she did.  Then, for the last two months before the concert, Charlie's class went to music with the full day Kindergarten class so that they could learn the hand motions and practice all together.

There was some question about how Charlie would do.  In practice sessions, he was neither singing nor participating in the motions.  His teacher mentioned a concern about how he would do, and I am so glad she did.  It allowed me to have a conversation in advance with Charlie.  We talked about his preschool program from last year and how good he felt when he was able to sing every song.  We watched a few of the videos that I had recorded so that he could see his smiling face and remember that feeling.  I also asked Charlie why he didn't want to sing.  He typically is a ham that loves to make people smile and laugh.  It took some prodding, but he finally shared that the noise from all of the kids singing and the music made him feel "tingly".  He described it as a bad feeling that he wanted to get away from.  It was one of the only times that I have heard him be able to describe the effects of sensory overload to me.  We have long known that Charlie is very sensitive to noise, and we know that he shuts down because of it.  I never knew before how it felt to him, so I was really happy that he was able to verbalize and share.  Then we talked about solutions.  He said that the headphones didn't work good enough because it was too loud.  So then I practiced singing really loud next to him with him being quiet.  I stopped and asked him how it felt.  The next time I asked him to sing really loud with me.  He had a huge smile on his face afterward and said that he could barely hear me, and could only hear himself.  So, to make sure that my point had come across, I stated the obvious by telling him that he would actually hear less noise if he sang himself.

He started signing with the class the next time they rehearsed.  And he slowly started learning the motions too.

When the night of the concert came, Charlie was so excited.  They had performed in school for the other classes that day, and Charlie had a positive experience.  He put on his red shirt and let me take a picture of him.

Then we put Ephram and Macie in the stroller and walked to the school.  We got there just in time to drop Charlie off at his classroom with his teacher, and then walked over to the gym.  We took our seats in the very back row because that was the easiest place to park Macie and leave her in the stroller.  Ephram wanted to sit in a big seat with his Mom and Dad.  He was super excited to watch Charlie perform.

Here is a look at the front of the program, and the inside too.  Charlie had a speaking part near the beginning.  He got to say, "Please join us in the Star Spangled Banner."  He did a really good job - spoke clearly, and with an appropriate volume.  We were very proud of him.

Charlie continued to do his best through the entire program.  He was a little sad when he didn't get to hold a letter to help spell out "America" in "Oh I Love America", but he recovered and got over it nicely.  That's not an easy thing for Charlie to do!

Here are some pictures of the kids from the show.  I was so happy as I reviewed these to confirm that Charlie was doing what he was supposed to almost every time.  (All of the kids goofed up sometimes!)

I also uploaded videos from Charlie's two favorite songs to You Tube.  I apologize for the shakiness of the recording.  We were all the way in the back row, so I was using a pretty big lens to be able to get good pictures.  Pretty big lens = very heavy lens = very hard to hold the camera steady.

This Land is Your Land
Thankful for the USA

The kids sang:

• There's a Beat
• The Star Spangled Banner
• Oh I Love America
• You're a Grand Old Flag
• This Land is Your Land
• Yankee Doodle
• I Love My Country
• America
• Thankful for the USA

When all the songs were done the music teacher, Ms. Smallwood, and the principal, Mr. Cosgrove, spoke to the audience.

I was pretty impressed with this concert, and very impressed with Charlie.  He was beaming afterward and I had to take one last picture.

I love to capture these true happy moments with Charlie.  His smile is always a little bigger, a lot brighter.

We headed home and listened to Charlie babble about how good the concert was.  We told him endlessly that we were very proud of him.  It was a great night for our family.

The End of Preschool

Throughout May, Charlie was concerned and excited about his last day of preschool.

My feelings were also mixed.

How could it be that my little boy would be attending preschool for the very last time?

And moving on to the "big kid's school" in a few short months?

But wouldn't it be nice to not have the commitment to drive him to school three days a week.

And pick him up, an event that always somehow interrupted Ephram's nap schedule?

And we could have our days to ourselves again.

Me and my little boys.

To do whatever we want together until the school years really started.

But... how could it be that he was actually old enough to graduate preschool?

The last day of class came faster than I'd imagined.

I'm sure it was slow coming for Charlie.

He was so excited as he ate lunch before the last day.

He chose out his Toy Story 3 shirt special - he said that his Toy Story friends needed to be there.

To help him sing in the Spring Show.

We loaded up in the car and walked Charlie to class.

One last time.

We left, to return 90 minutes later for his show.

Ephram was so excited to sit on the benches in the chapel and wait for the kids to come in.

When Charlie's class came in and took their place, I couldn't help but notice

A difference

Charlie looked proud.

He looked obedient.

And he looked so excited to show everyone what he knew.

They sang several songs.

The most amazing thing happened.

Charlie sang every word of every song.

He did every hand motion.

He didn't try to leave his place,

He didn't refuse to participate,

He didn't have any disagreements with the other children.

I was so proud.

I'm sure my smile stretched ear to ear.

Maybe he truly was ready to move on.

I recorded the songs that the kids sang,

(with Ephram's help, so some recordings are a bit jiggly.)

I had a hard time choosing which to share,

but I whittled it down to three.

I can't figure out how to imbed more than one YouTube video in a Blogger post.

So I imbedded my very favorite and provided links to the other two.  

No One Like You, a song by John Denver...

My absolute favorite.

Not just for the words and the joy on Charlie's face.

But because he proudly pointed at his family,

(and announced as much at the end.)

It makes me remember how lucky we are to have Charlie in our family.

Tap Your Sticks, was cute just to see how well Charlie followed the cues.

And also that he finally understands rhythm.

Tap Your Sticks

And a song about John 3:16, because of the complete silliness.

Not the message, but the body movements and gestures.

John 3:16

And, if you look at the videos, you may notice.

Charlie's had a bit of a growth spurt too.

He ended up being one of the tallest in his class,

And is quite taller than the other kids to his right

Who are all the same age as him.

After the show we walked to Charlie's class.

Gathered his things one last time.

And walked outside.

I told Charlie how proud I was of him.

And how excited Daddy would be to watch the movies and see how well he'd done.

Charlie was absolutely beaming.

Ephram was asleep.

So we took one last picture, in front of the school.

I will miss Prince of Peace preschool very much.

Charlie will too.

It was an excellent place for us.

And now, we wait for Kindergarten to start!

A Party for Jesus

On the last day of preschool before winter break, Charlie's class had a birthday party for Jesus.  All of the parents were invited to the last half hour, which was a program of several songs and a couple of really cute hand plays.

Ephram and I actually made it to the school a couple of minutes early, so we got a seat right up front.  The kids started in the back of the chapel with hand bells singing a song called "Bells are Ringing".  When Charlie spotted us he started pointing and smiling at us... forgetting his bell.  It was pretty cute, actually.  Then all of the kids came up front and lined up to do more songs.

Charlie had a hard time staying in his place.  First he wanted to go on the step above to be next to Ava.

Then he decided he didn't want to see anyone, so he turned around.

And then he just needed to stand next to Sienna.  Sienna kindly reminded him that he was supposed to be behind her.  (With her hand and a gentle push.)

He stayed next to Sienna anyway, which is where he sang the final song... We Wish You a Merry Christmas.  I took videos of every song, but since you probably don't want to see them all - here is the finale.

Charlie was so excited to perform for us.  He sang every song and did all of the hand plays.  Even though he was really the only child that had such a hard time staying in his place, I was so proud of how well he did.  This year was much better in comparison to last year, when he was yelling at everyone to stop and refusing to sing any of the songs.  He is really improving in formal situations and doing better socially too.  I think he just may be ready for Kindergarten next year!

Charlie had a great time at the party and performed all of his songs again for me when we got home.  He was sad that he wouldn't see his friends for three weeks, but this was a great way to end the year at preschool!

Charlie's Preschool Christmas Program

The first Friday of December, Charlie’s preschool had its annual Christmas program. The program consisted of both classes, the youngest is 3-4 and the oldest is 4-5 and both classes have about 9 kids, with each child having a line to say and several songs being sung between the recited lines.

Charlie was really, really excited for the program. They practiced for about a month beforehand, and Charlie would come home and “practice” for us too. He would get up on the bricks in front of our fireplace and tell me, “Okay! This is my stage. And here are my sheep. And now I am going to perform for you.” He would often do a little dance and then take a big bow. He sang all of the songs endlessly, at home, in the car, even in the grocery store. I knew most of the songs, but there were a couple that were unfamiliar to me.

The night of the program we headed over to his teacher’s with the salad that we were supposed to bring for the potluck afterwards. Charlie was really excited up until It was time for him to go up to the stage. Then he got really nervous. He had one of the first lines - “I hear it! What IS that sound?” - which was followed by the song Jingle Bells. He did say his line, very quietly, but he did not sing the songs. Instead he stared out at the crowd with a big blank face. There were a couple of other kids in his class, the younger one, which did the same. He actually looked quite embarrassed.

By the time the older class was saying their lines, Charlie was laughing more and more – but still not singing. I knew that this meant trouble, because it meant that he was finding something very funny. Sure enough, he started yelling at the other children in the second to last song, which was a very loud rendition of Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, “Stop! Stop singing everyone! This is too loud! Stop means STOP!” He thought it was funny, the kids just sang louder and giggled, and some of the adults started giggling too. So, of course he repeated his performance while the other kids sang We Wish You a Merry Christmas. And then he took a very big bow. He was very proud of himself.

What can you do with a child that would be 4 in a few days? We smiled and told him we were proud of him for performing in the program... Later, the next day, we talked to him about politeness. :) With where we were sitting we really couldn’t get any good pictures or video, so I apologize for the lack of that! We did take a picture before we left the house.

Charlie had a lot of fun sitting at the table with all of the other preschool kids and eating dinner. There was another adult who was at the little table with them for most of the time, named Miles, that Charlie was trying to keep up an adult conversation with. It was pretty funny! Once Charlie was done eating, it was time for us to leave. All in all, it was a very cute program and Charlie had a good time at the party!