Awards days

At the end of the year each grade has a little ceremony to reward the kids' accomplishments over the year so we've been enjoying that this week with the boys. When I say "we" I mean Sarah and I, because the boys are displeased. Not so much at the ceremony itself. Connor's, in fact, included a little song and dance routine, which he was quite diligent in preparing for and enthusiastic about performing. Jamie would never have been so willing.

No, it was the clothes that upset them. See, kids dress up for this, and our boys do not much like dressing up. Their reasons for being upset are indicative I think though. Connor, who, for the record,  looked unbelievably adorable (and one of the parents in the classed named him "best-dressed" of the group, so it's not just us), the concern was that he looked silly. All our attempts to reassure him that everybody else would be dressed up did no good and he threw a real fit Tuesday morning that only abated, but by no means finished, when I finally got them out of the car at school. Jamie, to his credit, really tried to be helpful and encourage Connor that morning.

Well, today it was Jamie's turn and one might have hoped that knowing it was coming he might have dealt a little better. But no. For him, it was a discomfort thing. He found the sleeves of his long-sleeve shirt to be distracting uncomfortable and he lamented being in jeans when it is so hot (I confess I'm sympathetic there). So he just scowled and grumbled the whole morning. About the only thing I could hear well was "Next time, I'm not going to encourage Connor!" 

For the record I would point out that a) Jamie also looked really good and b) there were plenty of kids there wearing SUITS so they ought to be grateful. Maybe next year we'll send them in white-tie since they're going to be unhappy anyway!