Seth's First Music Program

Seth's preschool had its end-of-the-year music program this morning. I had worried a little. Seth had been telling me the music was "too loud," that he was crying during practice. He's not the most outgoing little guy, to put it mildly, and he is easily overwhelmed by too many people or too much noise.

So I was considering it a victory this morning when my boy stood there stoically, not moving a muscle or saying a word, but not crying either, while the other children sang and did the motions to song after song. Then they gave each child some bells to shake and began to sing "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star." When Seth jingled his bells and sang right along not only to that song but to the next one ("Jingle Bells"), too, I found myself crying.

"He's singing!" I whispered to my husband, who seemed to have something in his eye, too.

For the rest of the songs, Seth went back to his stoic stance, but he did manage a few jumps with the other children (okay, okay, a few seconds after the other children) during a counting song. As Hoyt, whose mother received a call from his kindergarten teacher years ago when he refused to walk like an elephant because he thought it was stupid, said, Seth sang only the songs he wanted to sing and did only the motions that appealed to him.

"He's nobody's monkey," Hoyt said.

How true, how true. But he's definitely our boy, and today we are some very proud parents.