Fistful of Candy Hearts

Exciting happenings around here. Alex has been sick off and on for the past week. First a 24-hour stomach bug, then 3 days of intermediate mild fever. The doctor's office thinks he might have picked something up when he came in for his check-up, or at school. Lots of help, there.

But yesterday was Valentine's Day, and we had 44 hand-made Valentines to deliver to school. The teachers asked that they make the valentines and that they sign their first and last name on them. If Alex can't spell Holbrooks now, he'll never learn. I've got to give the teachers props. It was a great super-sneaky way to practice writing their names.

Monday dawned bright, beautiful and fever-free. There was a family exchange of boxes of chocolate. Then, Alex and I prepared for a field trip with his class. We were going to the university's theater for Aesop's Fables. Since there was a half hour or so before loading on the buses, I offered to help with classroom prep work. I got to put candy hearts in small bags for a math project they are doing sometime this week. Little candy hearts by NECCO (the real ones, not any cheap knock-offs) may be my favorite candy in the world. They're definitely in the top 5, along with Junior Mints and Necco Wafers, which are the same thing as the candy hearts, just thinner and without the cutesy sayings. However, filling 70 bags of them and the attendant smell (and candy dust) may put me off of them until next year.

At 8:30 coats were gathered (after a debate over who needed them - if you had a sweater, you didn't need a coat but if you were only wearing a t-shirt, you had to have one), then we went in a long line to the bathrooms. Everyone was encouraged to go, just in case. I went. You don't have to tell me twice to use a restroom when one is available. Then on to the buses. It's funny because even with three kids to a bus bench, you can barely see them. Almost all of them are too short to see over the seats. So, you can hear them (most definitely) but not see them. We made the 5-minute trip to the theater, memorized our bus number and got in a long line of children to make our way into the theater.

On the less than 50 yard trip:

Do not touch the berries, they could be poisonous.
Yes, you can stomp the berries.
No you cannot pick the leaves, or stomp the bushes.
I do not know why she is beside you in line.
I do not know anything about the 3 of you having to be separated. Get in the theater and the teachers will sort it out.
No, I did not know you lost a tooth.
No, I do not think the tooth fairy will bring you $50.
Yes, it is Valentine's Day.
We are seeing Aesop's Fables.
A fable is kind of like a fairy tale but with animals.
Yes, they may have people dressed at animals.
If you only step on the bricks between the cracks we will never get in the theater.

And so on. We got inside and the place was packed. I don't think there was an empty seat anywhere in there. All of the first graders from Alex's school were there, several buses from the neighboring county and I saw several home schoolers there for a field trip, too. Alex's teachers handed out books to keep everyone busy until the play started. Alex was unimpressed because he got a book with Sesame Street characters. They are way too babyish for sophisticated 6-year-olds like himself.

Finally, the curtains parted and a lady came out to introduce the show. Since it was Valentine's Day, they'd decided to add a couple of ballet numbers before Aesop's Fables. Hmmm. Okay. The first was nine teenagers dancing en pointe. The kids were interested, for a while. No open rioting yet. It went on for quite a bit, then they left the stage. The lady came back and said there'd be another number from the Nutcracker. The principal dancer from the Carolina Ballet Theater was there along with one of the teenagers to do the Pas de Deux from the Nutcracker. At least the kids knew the music - they studied Tchaikovsky and the Nutcracker Suite in music back in December. The kids were impressed with some of the turns and jumps. Then, halfway through, Alex leaned over to me, "That guy needs to put on pants." I agreed.

It turned out that the Aesop's Fables portion of the show was modern dance. This was something the teachers had not known or prepared for. The kids handled it pretty well but I don't know that they understood much of it. Oh, well, I guess they need to learn now that sometimes theater is confusing.

Today we are off to the dentist. Alex has a bizarre tooth situation going on with a permanent one coming in behind a baby tooth. They're just going to look at it. Since he had fever yesterday he's not supposed to go to school for 24 hours, so he's going to help me at the office a while. We have to get germ-free. There's a new baby across the street that we're dying to meet!