I sat there watching the Kindergarteners file in and then saw Claire take her seat on the stage in the front row. My first thought was "oh good! Claire's in front!" My second thought was "oh no. Claire's in front."  Sure enough, about 2 lines into the first song, a rendition of "Days of the Week" sung to the tune of  "The Adam's Family" (haven't we all heard it?), her tears became uncontrollable as the stage fright set in.  Claire had warned me all week that she was a little nervous about performing her solo line in "Brown Bear, Brown Bear."  I was totally prepared for that part of the show to be a bust (and it was).  After all, if you know this family at all you know that every single one of our children are born with a very real, and powerfully dominant gene called the "please don't expect me to talk to you because I'm a big chicken" gene.  It's true.  They can't help it, until around age 7 or 8 when the severity of it starts to wear off.  Even still, I thought she'd at least be able to hold it together for the group part of the program. Of all the kids, Claire has probably learned to handle her shy gene most gracefully. I sat there watching Claire try to be brave, but failing miserably.  The other moms all turned to me offering sympathetic looks and wondering what I was going to do. I couldn't blame them. Heck, I was wondering what I was going to do too. So I sat in my seat, squirming a little as I felt my own eyes tear up a bit for her sake, and sending her all the smiley happy, you can be brave mom vibes that I could muster.  It didn't work.

 While her classmates sang their little hearts out, my poor, poor baby girl chose to look on while sitting down below next to the comforting Mrs. Bosworth.  Do you see her? She's the teeny tiny, scared looking soul sitting between the two big heads at the bottom of the picture.  This picture breaks my heart.



Mrs. Bosworth gave it her best effort. No luck. Claire wouldn't budge.  I tried too.  I knelt down next to her as she threw her arms around my neck, afraid I was going to make her do something she really could not do. Of course, I wasn't going to make her go back up there. I just wanted her to know it was all o.k. and that I was so proud of her for trying.




She recovered like a champ, thanks to the time that about 10 more songs allotted her, and found enough courage to walk back on stage to accept her diploma with a smile.  What a come back!



 That perfect little smile and those bobbing curls...I am SO not ready for her to move on. She's so affectionate and aware, always drawing picture presents, writing love notes, and pausing to give a kiss just because.  I wish I could freeze time for just a little longer.  1st grade somehow makes big kids out of the little guys.  So yes, even though this cutie has it in her mind that she's now all grown up and officially a 1st grader, I'm not letting her go that easy. She's my kindergartener for 2 1/2 more months.