Our Dude, in the Spotlight

When I watched Duder practicing for his little preschool Christmas program a couple weeks back, it got me all sappy and pumped up to see my little man on stage, doing what he does best.  Singing and dancing.  Hes been humming little tunes around the house for weeks and I smiled every time he did, anticipating the cuteness that would occur at the big event.

The big event happened last Sunday at 4:00pm.  Grandma and Marc were here and we all dropped him off in his classroom with Ms. Yvetta.  He was sporting his most handsome race car PJ's and car slippers (sleep wear was required) and ready for "da big Christmas gram."  The four of us headed to the gymnasium and snatched some seats toward the back of the front section.  I swear people were there at 2:00pm holding seats like Bono was gonna take stage.  The Sheas joined us and we started preparing our cameras for our superstars' 2010 Christmas debut.  

At 4:00pm, out they came.  The entire preschool and kindergarten student body lined the stage and Duder was put in the front center.  Perfection!  Great placement for all of us to view and absorb his musical genius.  His class was assigned the role of "sheep" and wore little white ears.  For starters, we were pleased that he allowed this fixture to be placed on his head.  He looked out and immediately found me in the aisle, taking pictures. I got a smile and a small wave.  We were off to a good start.  

And then they turned on the spotlight.  Directly in front of the dude's little smiling face.  Upon impact, he scrunched up his face, squinted his eyes quite dramatically, yelled something about the "rays being too bright," turned his back to the light (and the audience) and remained that way the rest of the 30 minute program.  Occasionally he would attempt to turn around, but those attempts only lasted mere seconds before he could no longer handle the torture of the light.  The other children around him didn't seem to notice this nuisance.  Or maybe there was just one extra bright bulb directed right into the small section of stage that Dude stood on.  I'm sure that was it.

We finally concluded that our son was not going to show his precious face to the audience and chose to take joy in the fact that he was singing and doing the motions for the kids standing behind him.  I think he was quite mesmerized with all the activity of the forward facing children.  At one point, he got really fed up with the light and screamed, "Mom!"  He then covered his eyes, complaining to an unsuspecting little girl next to him that the lights were hurting.  Luckily, the "Christmas gram" was wrapping up by that time and all the little stars were escorted off the stage.  Dude was free from the light monster. 

Despite the light tragedy, we all walked out with smiles on our faces.  Not the smiles of musical pride I anticipated us wearing, but smiles none the less.  Our quirky kid.  Oh how we love him.  At least he didn't run off the stage, announcing that he had to poop or decide to tackle someone for fun.  There is much to be thankful for.  Enjoy the video.