His Big Night

Last week, my big boy performed at his school's Christmas show with all of his fellow kindergartners. It started at 7pm which was exciting for he and his brother. It isn't very often that the kids eat dinner, get all dressed up, and head out on the town. We were told that the dress was to be "nice, no jeans." Knowing that some of the other boys were going all out, we went ahead and followed suit...."suit"...... get it? I'm so clever.

Anyway, who knew that Mervyns carried little zip-on ties with the Nativity scene on them? How great is that? My boy was so proud of is special attire. So handsome. So excited for his big night. He was so thrilled to be all dressed up, so excited for us to hear his songs, so happy that we were all going to see him.

We arrived at the church where the show was going to be held to find that it was beautifully decorated, and complete with a full PA system, huge Christmas tree's....the whole 9 yards. We found great seats, and R. was very cooperative and enjoyable throughout. ****(I'm playing with what to call the kids on this blog. I don't like BB and LB anymore. Just hang with me until I figure it out.)*** The kindergartners sang their songs, and were absolutely adorable. Although.......as I watched N. onstage, I did notice that he looked tired....or upset.....or something. Oh well - it all went great, and I heard through the grapevine that the Kindergartners were watching Ratatouille while they waited to hit the stage. Fun!

When we gathered N. up after the show, he was definitely upset. I couldn't imagine what had happened to make my boy so sad. He looked absolutely crushed, but wouldn't tell me what happened. I chalked it up to exhaustion since he's almost always asleep by 8:00pm (he gets up at 5am...weird internal clock on this one) and it was now 9:15pm. Once we got in the car, he started sobbing and saying that he was so embarrassed because a kid in his class - SIMON (who is one of his better friends) - said that his shoes were GIRL shoes.

What to do....what to say. Such a struggle. My heart was breaking for my boy for whom this was humiliating and very real....as silly as it seems.

Do I tell N. that Simon is a little a-hole? That Simon's Mom is *very* weird (sorry...she is) Do I give him a laundry list of names to call this five year old little punk who had the audacity to make fun of my sweet and wonderful and......yeah, I'll say it - WONDERFULLY DRESSED little boy?

Or.....

Do I assure him that his shoes were most definitely bought in the boys shoe department. That Simon was just being silly. That I'm sure he didn't mean to hurt his feelings. Again...that he looks great, sang great, looks as manly and masculine as a five year old can look. Yes...Simon is still his friend.

I went with the latter.

Oh, and I also told him that he could kick him really hard the next time he saw him. No, no, no. I didn't tell him that. Would never tell him that. But I was thinking it.