School Festival

This past week the kids had their School Festival, in honor of Blessed Faustino -the Founder of the Congregation of Nuns who began the School. Antonio and Alejandra had been rehearsing for weeks and were ready to participate in the play and festivities.

It began on Wednesday with the School Parade. Alejandra was dressed as a Spanish Flamenco dancer and Antonio was a Real Madrid soccer player. We had initially hoped that he would agree to be a Bullfighter, in keeping with the Spanish theme, but as soon as he saw the tight torero pants he frowned and said no-way! I think he was expecting something a little more "manly" and "cool" than sequence and tights!!

At any rate, to my surprise, even the teachers dressed up for the Parade, so when I picked them up that afternoon, I felt like I had walked into a Halloween party in the middle of March! It was very amusing.

Here we have both of the kids' teachers: Antonio with Beatriz, dressed as a Chinese lady; Alejandra with Margarita, dressed as a school girl -super cute!

Thursday, when I picked up the kids their faces were covered in the remains of a delicious hot chocolate snack at school; Friday they ate churros during recess and Antonio reported that they did "absolutely no school work during these days!"

Friday afternoon was the school play. Alejandra was in a number called "Paint, paint, paint without stopping" and as such, she was dressed as a painter. Antonio was in a skit about keeping the earth clean and the effects of pollution, and he was a puffy white cloud. And, well, Francisco just enjoyed trying on his siblings' "zapatillas" -which were the white, canvas shoes, typical of Spain that were required for the costumes. These zapatillas are surprisingly comfortable (and oh-so-fashionable!) and the kids have enjoyed wearing them around the house. They smell of bubblegum too! Francisco feels really left out that he didn't get his own pair and he flops around in theirs....I'm going to need to run to the store for another pair soon.



Speaking of Francisco, that boy is getting fiesty! His new favorite word is "stop!" -which is rather curious, since we don't speak in English, so we're not quite sure where he picked it up (perhaps Elmo's videos?). At meal times he absolutely insists on feeding himself, and as you can imagine, we have a fiasco thrice daily: as the yogurt dribbles down the spoon and onto his shirt and pants, I explain to him that he just can't do it alone yet. This however is not something he's willing to swallow (literally) and so begins the tantrum: he thrashes about, hopping to and fro in his high-chair, screaming, trying to tear apart the placemat, flip the plate over, spill his milk, etc. He's been succesful on a number of ocassions, but now we're all pretty much prepared.

He also corrects me frequently: "Asi no!" ("Not like that!") and then adds, "Asi, si" ("Like this") and he demonstrates the action his way...sigh...picky, picky, picky. He's still as cute as a button though, so we'll keep him.

Here are Francisco and Alejandra wearing masks of their class mascots. Fran is wearing Antonio's "Pinto" mask, a little green monster that frolics about the classroom; Alejandra is wearing "Lila", a little lilac monster. We go to this park, seen above, pretty much every day now. The weather has been warm and sunny and after school the park is swarming with kids.

So, I've saved the best for last. In January, the kids "discovered" Michael Jackson. It all started when they came home from school singing "Heal the World" (one of Michael Jackson's songs) as part of a little performance for "The Day of Peace." Well, that was the start of something special. They are completely taken to his music, his moves, and his videos (I mean, how could you not be? He was a genius before he got all weird). And after watching a couple of his videos, we noticed that Antonio was trying (with a good measure of success) to imitate his moves! It was incredibly amusing and so we tried to coax him to let us film him dancing.  Initially he was absolutely against it, but after a little bribery we managed to get a few clips. I had to haggle with Antonio a bit. He wouldn't dance for less than 2 euros, but I got him down to 1 euro. Granted, because he knew he was being filmed, he is more reserved and self-conscious (stage fright), so the video does not do full justice compared to the  all-out performances, which I will try to capture in the future. But it does serve as a little foretaste of his style!

(By the way, he requested that I let him grow his hair out like Michael Jackson, to which I said, absolutely not!)

And, Francisco has learned the Guardian Angel Prayer (although he's clowning around, so it doesn't sound as clear as he's actually able to say it):

Angel de la Guarda

Mi dulce compania

No me desampares

Ni de noche ni de dia

Hasta que me pongas

En paz y alegria

Con todos los Santos

Jesus, Jose y Maria. Amen