The performance to end all performances.........

Kali 0.3 and I were on our own last night. We were invited to come to a preschool graduation. They were basically having a performance by the kids for the parents, grandparents and friends. The theme was a play on the old 'Petticoat Junction' show. It was called 'Blue Jay Junction'. The boys were all dressed in overalls and were wearing train conductor hats. The girls were all wearing dresses with flowers on the front that were created by hand by an advanced sewing class of high school kids.

My friend and his wife were there as were all the grandparents. All of them were excited about the big performance. Kali momentarily stole the show as they hadn't seen her for a couple of months, so they all wanted to see her and see how much she had grown. But soon after, the lights quickly dimmed and it was showtime.

I've honestly never been to a preschool show like this, but it was certainly interesting to watch. The main teacher started off the show and was crying as she looked over the graduates. She obviously has seen them grow up quite a bit before her eyes, so she was emotional about them moving on. She finally managed to forge through and finish up her comments and the show started.

They started with a song about Blue Jay Junction. The teacher was in front of the stage leading the kids. The funny part about the songs was that all the kids knew the chorus or the lines where the big dance moves were and would scream out the lyrics in those parts. However, the verses were evidently not as exciting for the kids, so they didn't remember most of them and so they just mumbled through those parts while looking around and waiving at family and friends as 4 and 5 year old kids do so well.

In another part of the show, they had 4 boys and 4 girls do a square dance. They actually did it surprisingly well. By surprisingly well, I mean that I actually could make out some of the square dance moves that they were performing. I was pretty impressed.

There was one moment in the show that will likely be sent in to America's Funniest Home Videos. One of the kids in between songs noticed that there was a bug of some type on the stage (I was in the back and couldn't see exactly what it was) and stood there watching the bug rather than going back to his assigned seat. Of course, since there were around 20 4 or 5 year-olds on stage, some of the other kids started running over from their assigned seats to check out the bug. The kids totally forgot about the fact that there were around 150 people in the audience watching them and were solely focused on running over to see the bug. Eventually, the teacher jumped onto the stage, picked up the bug, and tossed it off the side of the stage. The bug intermission was complete and the show continued.

They had another song that was like a hoe-down song where several of the kids had instruments and just started playing them once the song started. There were two drummers, a girl with a washboard, a girl with a flute of some type, and a couple of girls using hula-hoops on the sides.

After a few bars, the crowd started clapping in time to the music. The kids really got into it at that point. The drummers smiled and banged the drums even harder. The hula-hoops were spun even faster than they were before. The flute (which was being played horribly out of tune, but no one even cared) was being blown with increased vigor. However, the girl with the washboard did not change a thing. Before the crowd started clapping, she scratched the washboard very gently. It was like she didn't want to hurt it or something. After the crowd started clapping, her demeanor didn't change a bit. She scratched that washboard just as gently as she had before. That girl is obviously going to be the level-headed one of the group. A rocking crowd couldn't distract this girl from what her task was in the show. Good for her.

My friend's daughter (Macy) participated in the 'Freight Train Boogie'. They were actually just as good as the square dancers. They had a routine all set up and they performed it well. I will say that I was awfully proud of her dance moves. She was able to do her kicks and dance moves actually in time with the beat of the music. Most of the other girls were just as cute, but Macy was the only one who actually did the dance on the beats of the music. Very impressive. There's likely some dance recitals in this girl's future.

Kali started to get fussy, so I had to leave just as the last song was performed. I'm glad I did as she had a complete meltdown just as we got to the car. But that's part of parenting. I'm just glad she behaved long enough for us to see the performance. They were handing out the awards to the kids as we left. I'm sure all of the kids got awards and were very proud of them. In a few years, I'll likely be watching Kali get an award. But I think I can wait on that. She's got some growing to do before that happens.