Multiparenting Cayen & Cayson

Today is concert day in school. My first concern was whether he would willingly wear the jeans required for the concert as he doesn't like jeans. So I had  prepared two pairs of jeans and a dark blue tights just in case. And thankfully he did.  We sat down in the classroom and waited for concert to start. I tried to spot the handcrafted lion lantern that we made last week. I had bought a idiot proof DIY version where Cayen can peel the double sided tape and stick the parts on.  When the first song began, I went forward to sit on the floor after I saw some parents do the same . I thought it would be a better position to take a video. Big Mistake !  When I did that, Cayen saw me and ran off the stage ! And the song started without him.  This set the tone for the rest of the concert as he tried to run off for most of the segments (and there were 7 songs in total) and I had to transport him back. And he was distracted for most of it too. Reminder to self - don't sit...

It's time for the end of year concert again. Given his good performance last year, I was looking forward to a repeat this year. But distinctly unlike last year, tis year, we had to do so much in the morning to cajole him into wearing his costume and shoes - as usual, he's extremely opinionated about what he wears and he didn't quite like anything new. However, while he started off quite well in the opening act, performance was lack lustre thereafter, which is rather strange, as he was singing the Recycling song a lot at home in gusto.  http://youtu.be/qQXboevHucY When asked why he didn't really dance for the third song, the chinese song, he replied, "I don't like that song"  http://youtu.be/QjJDyA2zNPw Hmm... So much for a career in showbiz. Anyway , the finale where he got really excited about the confetti.  http://youtu.be/XghD1D4wHoQ

Cayen looks forward to piano lesson every week. Perhaps it's because he enjoys the song and dance and a little bit of piano playing. He likes it so much he would willingly walk from our home to the lesson on his own (without asking to be carried). Perhaps it's because we never ask him to practise intra week. As such, piano lessons are always fun. All was well until I learned that there's a end of term concert ! And he could hardly complete a song without playing wilfully. And suddenly one week was the rehearsal and the following week the concert. Thankfully during the rehearsal, it was the teacher's birthday and hence, there's a chocolate cake. Just before he played, I told him that he would get two "good" chops and a piece of cake. Miraculously, he played the song perfectly without a pause (though he used the wrong fingers). The power of the chocolate cake!  Then, for the next one week, we tried to get him to practice .. 临时抱佛脚...  A few days ...