Yesterday Little S´s school had a Spring Spectacle at his school in belated honor of Mother's Day. All the mom's were invited and the kids recited poems and sang. It was cute and well done, but slightly over-the-top like most of these things here in Mexico. For example all of the mom's without exception were perfectly coiffed and made up as if they were going to a wedding or had the lead role in one of those Mexican soap operas. Mexican women will use any excuse to dress to the nines and it can be intimidating tto be in the middle of it. It was certainly a little intimidating for me, totally ill prepared and dressed in raver pants and a black reversible t-shirt bought in a Paris flea market. Reversible because I like the shirt but not the print so I cut out the tag and wear it wrong side out. I know, I know awful. So yes I felt kind of out of place and let's not even talk about my kid in his crinkley orange t-shirt and scrappy hand me down Carter's shorts three kids have already worn. Nobody said anything on the invitation about the kids putting on a showcase. All the kids looked perfect and S was The Little Rascal. He even told me this morning as we attacked his hair, "yesterday my teacher brush-ed my hair." So yeah, bad mommy.
The food was fun. There were snacks of apples wedges coated in hot pepper candy, deee-licious! I love this red pepper candy coating. It is a perfect mix of sweet and hot and it's not hard and crunchy but powdery and soft. This fountain machine which I love and must have one day for future parties, dripped the red pepper sauce into pretty cascades and you could put your fruit skewers of pineapple and honeydew melon under it. Those candy apples in the background are actually red pepper apples too. The food was really creative and I was impressed. And while I think they spent a lot of money which might have been better spent on Montessori supplies this IS Mexico and parties and festivals are an enormous part of the culture.
I was proud of Little S as he filed out on to the stage with the 27 little amigos from his class. They all sang and did gestures, including one annoying little girl who you could just tell had been coached at home by her parents. Little S bit his bottom lip and stood there staring off until he saw me and then he smiled a little shy smile. I was proud of him for not panicking and for all of the transition he's put up with this year. He didn't sing but he was adorable without doing anything.
* I really wanted all thirty days to be in black and white but I had to cheat a little because this is just too pretty in red.
The food was fun. There were snacks of apples wedges coated in hot pepper candy, deee-licious! I love this red pepper candy coating. It is a perfect mix of sweet and hot and it's not hard and crunchy but powdery and soft. This fountain machine which I love and must have one day for future parties, dripped the red pepper sauce into pretty cascades and you could put your fruit skewers of pineapple and honeydew melon under it. Those candy apples in the background are actually red pepper apples too. The food was really creative and I was impressed. And while I think they spent a lot of money which might have been better spent on Montessori supplies this IS Mexico and parties and festivals are an enormous part of the culture.
I was proud of Little S as he filed out on to the stage with the 27 little amigos from his class. They all sang and did gestures, including one annoying little girl who you could just tell had been coached at home by her parents. Little S bit his bottom lip and stood there staring off until he saw me and then he smiled a little shy smile. I was proud of him for not panicking and for all of the transition he's put up with this year. He didn't sing but he was adorable without doing anything.
* I really wanted all thirty days to be in black and white but I had to cheat a little because this is just too pretty in red.
3 comments:
Oooh that photo makes me hungry.....
Lol at you in your inside-out t-shirt! Hey I bet all the other mums and kids looked exactly the same and you and Litle S will be the funky individual looking ones that everyone will point out in the photos!
Yeah I´m sure we´ll stand out. Oh well at least we were comfortable.
I sometimes feel that way too, like my kid is the raggamuffin in with all the perfectly dressed and coiffed children at school. They have special underwear to match their undershirts! Which someone (their mothers? their grandmothers?) IRON for them! Even their SOCKS are ironed! It's nuts.
Even out and about, the mothers will clean their children's faces with each lick of their ice cream so nothing is ever smudged. Meanwhile I never have tissues or wipes and so we have to wait until he find a fountain or get home.
Oh well. I think in the end, our kids will love us for the way we are. Imperfect and fun. Jack doesn't seem to notice that his tees are slightly wrinkled and many are hand-me-downs. He'd much rather play outside than in the house while I iron his underpants.
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