Mother's Tea

A couple of weeks ago I attended the anual Mother's Tea at Isabel's school. It's such a fun time for the kids and their moms and the kids work really hard to prepare tons of homemade gifts to give and songs to perform.

Some of you who know our little Isabel well know that she has a a little problem with being the center of attention. It makes her very nervous and she usually ends up in tears when she is faced with a whole room of staring people. She has two wonderful teachers this year who have been working so hard to encourage her and to comfort her when these situations arise. They were thoughful enough to put her right on the end so she'd be close to where I was sitting and they also let her stand next to her best friend, Olivia. Joel and I also talked to her often about how much fun she'd have at the Mother's Tea and we tried to prepare her for the situation she'd face so she could be prepared and wouldn't be surprised or taken aback when she entered the room full of moms. The big day came and she was so excited to get to school! We dressed her up and gave her a few last words of encouragement and then sent her off to school. Isabel went to her classroom and then I went to the gym to wait with the other moms. When the kids came in she did wonderfully! She had a big smile on her face and even participated in the first song! After the first song, things started to fall apart a little. She began to cry and stopped singing, but she stayed in her spot and pulled it together. By the 4th song, she was composed and even started singing again. She finished the whole rest of the program and then came over to eat snacks with me! I was so proud of her!!!!

(Last year, she entered the room crying and then ended up sitting with the teacher the whole time while she sobbed uncontrollably ...... needless to say, I cried through the whole thing as well)

After we finished our snack time, the kids had to go back to class and as I was saying goodbye to her, I told her how proud I was of her. She said, "But mommy, I cried". And I told her, "Yes, but you only cried a little and you kept singing! You were very brave. That's what makes me so proud!" She gave me a big hug and ran over to join her friends. My cup runneth over :)