Our little star

Today was Maura's first show at her school. Her class has been preparing all month for the Christmas Concert. Maura has been talking about it, and we have been making a pretty big deal out of it in our house. Daddy stayed home from work to go; Mimi came right over after Bible study; Oba drove all the way out here (even though she will be back tomorrow to babysit) to rush back to work; even Grandad left his busy work schedule to be there (of course Mom was there, but where else would I be?). I am pretty sure Maura's entourage was the largest there, not to mention the first there. We had to make sure we had front row seats. Well, as Sean so aptly said, maybe we should have practiced more at home.

I knew it was going to be bad when I did not see Maura walking in with her friends, rather sheepishly hiding behind one of her teachers. She took the stage nicely, full fist in mouth. The teacher started the first song, and bam... Maura did not move. Well, she may have swayed her hips a bit, but no movement from the mouth. In fact, her hand did not even leave her mouth. The next song came, more of the same, the next... the same. But when the grand finale came, Maura decided standing there with her hand in her mouth would not do. Instead, she walked off the stage and came and sat with her mom and dad! And lucky for us (and her later in life) we caught it all on tape.

When I asked her yesterday if she was going to sing quietly or loudly, she said neither. She was going to sing medium. So today after the show I asked her if she sang quietly or loudly and she started to answer, then thought more about it and said, "I did not sing at all." At least she realized it.

For some reason I feel a little guilty that everyone made the effort to come and Maura did not do anything. Like Sean said, should I have had her practice more at home? Did I not make a big enough deal out of it? Did I make too big of a deal about it? Just that mommy guilt at work.

Maggie had a great time though. She got to leave her class to come see the show. She enjoyed playing on the altar (doing somersaults and such... typical things for altar play, right?) before Maura's class got there. She walked right up and sat on Maura's teacher's lap for the show. She proudly announced to the teacehr that her sister Mar was up on stage. Maybe she'll be the one who gets on stage and belts out a number or two. I guess we'll have to wait and see next year.