On the farm

Last night was Hunter's first grade performance. It was based on the farm. They had a fun farm backdrop that the teacher's made. Speaking of teacher's I love Hunter's teacher. She is so awesome and he has had such a wonderful year. She has done and excellent job of helping to support his love of reading and science. She loops up every other year and teaches second grade as well. So....guess who Hunter will also have next year. YAY! We are all excited. Each of the first grade classrooms represented a different animal. Hunter was a cow. They did a combination of speaking parts and songs. There were three to four speaking parts per classroom and Hunter had one of them. Hunter was standing on the top riser at the very end and happened to be standing by Allison which is the little girl that he has liked all year. During the performance Deke and I were cracking up because he was so serious. He was singing and following along with all of the hands motions but wouldn't crack a smile and was just staring at the music teacher. Afterwards he told us that she had told them all to keep their eyes on her. Well he definitely followed that direction to the tee.

Then on one song his class left the risers and went down on the floor with instruments. Hunter had the wood block and again was very serious as he waited for the beats to come and then hit the block with his mallet. Avery and Emma loved the music especially the instruments and Em kept bouncing up and down trying to dance to the music.

My favorite song though was called the Turkey Woogie. It was a jazzy rendition about a turkey and it had a great beat and cute moves that corresponded with the lyrics. This one finally got a smile out of him. His part was the last speaking part, he walked up to the mic and looked over at me sitting over on the right side. He was standing very rigid, I love this picture of him because if you just look at his stance you can tell how nervous he was. I could see the nerves he was having and just smiled at him. Then he looked back out to the center and said his part nice and slow just perfect on the volume. "The horse is in the stable, the hens are in the shed but the sheepdog fell fast asleep inside the farmers bed." Then he smiled. I went over to pick him up from his group and gave him a hug telling him what a good job he did. "Mom, would you take a picture of me and Allison" was the first thing he said to me. "Sure bud, go ask her" I said as he hurried off to find her. I watched as he found her up on the stage talking to two of her friends. He stood there behind her just waiting as if expecting her to realize he was behind her and just turn around. He kept looking at me unsure what to do. "Ask her" I quietly prompted him and pointed. He sat there waiting. Looked back at me again and put his hands up as if confused. "Ask her Hunter" I mouthed to him again. "Hey Allison" he said so quietly I don't know if he even heard himself and without hearing him she ran off to see another friend. Giving him a look, he looked at me and shrugged totally unsure what to do next. "Hunter if you want a picture with her you are going to have to go ask her." I whispered to him. "Okay" he said and started to walk towards her again turning back once more for my reassurance. "Hey Allison, would you take a picture with me?" he said to her mostly looking down at the floor. "Sure Hunter" she said and over they came. I took a couple quick pictures, "thanks Hunter" she said and hurried off again. Hunter was smiling. Then as if it became a trend, other friends were coming up to Hunter asking for pictures together. These are pictures with Hunter and Hailey and him and Katie.

As we headed out to the car we saw Dr. Coleman in the parking lot. "Night Dr. Coleman" Hunter said, "Goodnight" she called back. Then in his most "trying to sound like a grown up voice" he said, "Yeah, gotta get to bed early tonight, have a Scorpion report due in the morning." Deke and I looked at each other and just smiled and laughed. I feel like we have done that so much since he was born. He says the funniest things. He has always had such an outgoing spirit and such a way with connecting with people. I have always and still feel that this part of him is and will continue to be a blessing in both his life and the life of those he interacts with. Way to go Hunter!