December 5th...

Yesterday at school pick up time, it became "one of those days"... sigh.

First off, Clara...

While walking home she announces to me that she lost a tooth today! I asked her to show me the new gap and when I looked in I was horrified to see snaggly bits of tooth still in the space! I asked her if she was sure she lost a tooth and she said yes, it was in her bag and she was surprised that she lost it since it wasn't even wiggly.

When we got home, this is what she showed me...
... approximately half a tooth... the rest is still in there! Apparently it's no big deal, but the dentist wanted to see her anyway... so we'll be off to the dentist on Thursday.

Next up we have Alex...

He looked completely normal when I saw him, but then, much like Clara, the truth started to come out on our walk. He slipped during recess... he was running to get the ball, put on the breaks and his feet went out from under him, so now his backside looks like this...
Thankfully I had a change of clothes for him since he was going straight to his young ensemble performance. The verdict is still out on whether the pants will come clean or if they'll become another statistic... but he did rip the sleeve of the long sleeved shirt he had on under his polo... that's a new column to add to my count.

I had to drop off Alex early for his young ensemble group, so with 1 1/2 hours to kill, I wandered around and did some shopping. It's not a great photo (or even a good one) but here's a quick shot of the tree in front of the Hancock building...
If it hadn't been so windy I might have tried to get a better one, but I was over it and wanted to get back inside.

The fall project of his young ensemble group is probably my favorite (until spring when I'll declare that the spring project is my favorite). In the fall they write an original work and then perform it. It always amazes me. Last fall I was completely blown away, but I had no clue what to expect. I thought I would enjoy it this year, but it wouldn't be quite so unexpected. Once again, it totally exceeded my expectations. They have some really talented kids in this group, both actors and writers. I was choked up, near tears for a lot of the performance. They based their theme on that of the professional theater's theme this year... in one moment, everything changed. To see these kids be so honest and insightful is just amazing. Alex had a monologue near the end and it took my breath away... not just the way Alex performed it, but the way it was written. He pointed out the boy who wrote it to me (no one performs their own writing) and it was almost unbelievable that it was written by a 13 year old kid. They are a truly talented group. A bonus with this year's fall project, instead of being over with this performance, it will continue to evolve as they turn it into a touring piece. After the holidays, we will learn more about when and where they will be performing it.

We stayed a bit for the party after the performance, chatting with the other parents from Alex's school. It was nice to get to catch up with them, especially since the boys get along so well and share so many interests.

Then it was time to run to get Clara from ballet. Once at home, they did their Christmas stuff... opening a new door on the Lego calendar...
and reading their book!