Iris' show... and graduation :-)

Yesterday we went to watch the little performers at Iris' school. For the first time both Gabriele and his father were also there in addition to me and my mother-in-law, and, of course, Sander. Since it was raining cats and dogs (and horses) [the link tries to explain the origin of this phrase; interesting indeed] they had to take the performance indoors, and they stacked us all in the gymnastic hall. There were a lot of grandparents in addition to parents.

The kids were dressed in blue trousers/jeans (mostly, there was one girl in a blue skirt and I think one boy in white trousers; strange to see that some kids don't have blue-jeans) and white t-shirts painted by them with the picture of the character they will be representing. Iris had the picture of a brown bird on her t-shirt; she was a cuckoo :-)

They mainly sang songs and danced/acted to the stories told in these songs. The opening and closing song was a song thanking all for being there. There were songs in Italian and English. Even one song had some lines in French :-) Multi-lingual kids ;-)
They were really beautiful. It is amazing how they can memorize all those songs without a written text in their hands. They are little, 5-6 years old, they cannot read and write properly yet, but they have huge memories in those tiny heads of theirs. It was quite emotional for us parents to watch them do everything their teachers had taught them, flawlessly.

Just when we thought that the program was over the teachers arrived with a huge box and began taking out black square academic caps made of black cardboard complete with tassels! But they were right: our little ones are graduating, maybe not from high-school or college yet, but from kindergarten. Next year they will begin elementary school.

Seeing my daughter with her cap on her head, then receiving her diploma from the school principal was quite emotional for me. I could hardly keep the tears in my eyes. I am sure I will cry in September on her first school day in elementary school.

It was a very beautiful afternoon. Even Sander enjoyed it, dancing when the kids were dancing, clapping when everybody else was clapping and waving to his sister during the show. At the end of the show he was very happy in the arms of Silvia, the teacher of Iris :-)