Friday, March 13, 2009

Juicy Grapes so yummy !


Today was Rayyan's School Fancy Dress show. In retrospect, I rue how soon I give up on Rayyan by presuming he will not measure up. I try so much harder with Ruhi. I am constantly surprised by him these days, which is a new feeling and I so like it ! 

For his fancy dress I dug my brains for the simplest costume that I thought he could carry off and created a 2 line limerick about 'juicy grapes'. He enthusiastically mugged and practiced his lines to call. Maybe I should have given him a longer poem since the other kids spoke so much more and it helped !

He is shit scared of balloons from the day one went bust bang on his face. Yet he bravely made peace with them on his D day. I tried to do a dress rehearsal for several days before Fancy dress but he did not let the balloons anywhere close to him. I was half certain he would refuse to put the balloons on his shirt. But he quietly stood at the back of my jeep outside his school, to let me tape them to his shirt.  He also patiently let the double sided tape sit on his head holding a tiny leaf patch. 

He looked very bright and cheerful till I left him at the steps from where he had to walk alone to the centre of the small stage. He walked up slowly and timidly looking very scared. The balloon on his right shoe fell off and I thought he was about to run back. I quickly moved up from the audience to sit at his feet holding his tiny cold hand. He was absolutely silent for a few seconds as the teacher urged him to speak on the mike. His eyes were locked into mine in a bewildered gaze and it seemed he had lost his voice.

I whispered hard to him "say good morning friends...". He paused some more and swallowed spit. I thought he was going to give up. But then he looked straight at the audience and said his lines loud and clear right down to the sprightly 'thank you'.

He did not win a prize and for once I did not mind it. Its taken baby steps to get here and this in itself is my biggest prize ! 

17 comments:

~nm said...

These kids never cease to surprise. DOn't they? :D

And must say...what a lovely idea..I might steal it too if I ever have to send Anirudh as a fruit :D

Another Kiran In NYC said...

Great costume! He looks adorable.

Sunita Venkatachalam said...

Your ideas are always awesome. It's so brave of Rayyan to do something he's scared of. I could learn a thing or two from him myself.

Inexplicably said...

Thanks NM, Kiran, Poppins...

Anonymous said...

Lovely picture, says so much about how cheerfully yet subtly you were there to support him. A very nice post!

Please write more often :)

Best wishes, Anjali

Balvinder Balli said...

Hi , i am in transit at DELHI, will be getting back to regular blogging after a few days.

Gentle Whispers said...

I just saw your comment on my blog that you had made a while back and I had to come across and apologise for not replying. I'm terrible when it comes to things like that.

Anyway, I must say he looks absolutely adorable. I wish I'd looked half as adorable. And you definitely didn't need the help. He looks absolutely adorable.

Y'know, one year my parents had sent me as a merry-go-round. You should do something like that sometime.

Unknown said...

That's a great idea for a fancy dress!

Mampi said...

He appears confident standing there though.
It was a good idea to dress him up as grapes.

the blogger formerly known as sansmerci said...

cuteeeeeeee mr. grapes!

roop said...

how old is he now?

:)

roop said...

how old is he now?

:)

the mad momma said...

i think he made a beautiful bunch of grapes :)

sugandha said...

Can u please suggest some simple lines on grapes for my 3 years old son

sugandha said...

Can u please suggest some simple lines on grapes for my 3 years old son..

sugandha said...

Can u please suggest some simple lines on grapes for my 3 years old son

sugandha said...

Can you please suggest some simple lines on grapes for my 3 years old son.