Concerts, Mushrooms, and Pumpkins

My little mushroom

Misha dances with his class.

To celebrate Fall and the end of the first quarter, all of the schools had their fall concerts. Misha had been busy learning songs and dances and memorizing a Russian poem and an English poem. Sebby also had a Russian poem to memorize, so both boys practiced their lines with admirable dedication. 

Sebby's poem was full of various names of trees, so I learned some new vocab from the experience too. Sebby learned his four lines so well that one day while swinging outside our house, he suddenly belted out his poem in full volume, attracting surprised glances and smiles from the people around us. He also learned many songs, which he often sings while walking home from school. Last week, he picked up two huge Oak leaves and started showing me his "leaf dance," waving the leaves high in the air to the right, to the left, then spinning in a circle, right in the middle of the sidewalk. Everyone walking by thought he was adorable.

Finally, last week we got to see the result of all their efforts - the concerts. Misha's first-grade class combined with the second-grade class to perform on Oct. 31, and the parents of all the children squeezed into the back of the room to watch. I always knew I had a bias toward my own children, but it became really obvious whenever the second-graders came on stage. When watching a bunch of random children, the costumes seem gaudy, the singing is painful, their mistakes are wearying, the choreography is cheesy.... However, when watching YOUR child, everything is completely different. The costumes are adorable, the singing is inspiring, the mistakes are endearing, and the choreography is clever. 

Misha, of course, did a great job. In one scene, he was a tomato, acting as a mediator between Miss Carrot and Miss Cabbage, who were arguing about who was more beautiful.

Misha the Tomato

The children also performed a demo of what they've been learning in their Ushu classes so far. Misha proudly performed in the front row.

Misha's class photo.

Shortly after Misha's concert, Sebby got to have his first real performance for an audience of parents. He was very excited about his costume, provided by the school, which was ...

A mushroom! Can you tell from the red cap with white spots? He was so thrilled about his costume that he would tell me every time he got to put it on for practice. When he marched proudly on stage with all the other children, hands on hips, he was so cute it almost brought tears to my eyes. Josh and I ended up in the back watching the show, but Misha was given a seat up front since he was a child. That gave Sebby someone to look at when performing, and he LOVED having Misha watch him. When he first noticed Misha, Sebby started talking to him ("You're watching me, yeah, Mish?") and smiling at him constantly throughout the concert.

Most of the kids, being only 3, were nervous about saying their poems. Sebby, who had so boldly announced it on the playground, reverted to a barely audible voice, but it didn't really matter. All the kids danced and sang in all their cuteness.

The leaf dance that he had showed me on the street.

In this little video, you see Sebby's class circling and singing. (But if you choose not to watch it, I will understand.) Eventually I zoom in on Sebby (on the right) so you can see him doing the actions with great flare - sleeping, playing a flute, and banging a drum.

And here's Misha's Ushu demo (Misha's on the left):

I took several videos of both of the boys' concerts, and now every day after school, Sebby runs to the computer saying, "I want to watch my prazdnik!" (party). He loves being able to watch himself. :)

Halloween!

Although Halloween is not really celebrated here, we celebrated it ourselves by carving pumpkins. First, Misha drew the design he wanted with a pencil, and then I set to work carving it. The pumpkin rinds are so thick here that it was a challenge for me, let alone for Misha! Nevertheless, our jack-o-lanterns turned out quite well. I carved a second one, which became "Sebby's." He liked the fact that it was scary. 

Glowing pumpkins for Halloween night. :)