The play.

Last week, Paul announced that he'd have to be out of town this week, Monday through Friday, and then asked if there was a reason he should be able to come home early.

"Um, yes," I told him: "Caleb's play."

The truth is that when I first heard that Caleb's school did a kindergarten operetta every year--that's the word they use: operetta--I rolled my eyes a little. A little pretentious, perhaps? But I have to confess that I've been 100% on board ever since Caleb came home singing "With a Smile and a Song" in early fall (maybe the sweetest thing I'd ever heard in my life).

Shortly after he went back on track in October, he confided to me that he hoped the part he'd get in the play was a dwarf, preferably Happy. That very day, though, his teacher had pulled me aside after school and asked if I thought Caleb would do alright being the prince. I was at first confused about why she asked, but then she explained that he would have to sing a solo and that he might get teased a little bit about being in love with Snow White. If there's any kid in the world that appreciates a bit of limelight, it's Caleb, so I told her I thought he'd be fine.

I was a little worried that he'd be disappointed about not being a dwarf, but his teacher saved the day. When they announced the parts, she told all the kindergarteners that the prince was an especially important part because he was the hero of the whole play. Caleb was absolutely thrilled. He ran out of school that day yelling, "Mama! I'm hero! I'm the prince!"

So, clearly, this play has been a big deal at our house for a long time. They had a dress rehearsal at school on Wednesday, which I was dying to go to, but I had to have office hours, and CC was taking her nap. When I picked him up, his teacher mentioned that she wished she'd asked me to come because Caleb had been so nervous he'd been shaking his right leg the whole time. "He looked like Elvis!" she said.

Yesterday, they performed the play as an assembly for the school, and I really felt compelled to go; if he'd been nervous the day before performing in front of no one, I was concerned that he might freak out in front of the whole school. Paul's plane came in at 1:15 or so, but the assembly started at 2, so at 1:50, I woke the baby up from her 45-minute nap and went to the school. And, of course, Caleb did a fabulous job. He was nervous at first, but when the students laughed at his funny line, I could see him calm down. Here's the video I took of him singing with Snow White while trying to wrangle a tired and restless baby: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gyldmePrbOA

His performance that night was even better. Grandma and Grandpa, Ben and Anna and their kids, and Ashley and Miriam all came, and he was thrilled. I didn't take enough pictures, and I didn't get any of him by himself, but here's a fancy crop job.

So big so fast.