A Talent Show and The Beginnings of a Book

Tuesday night while Kedar was at Scouts, the kids and I had an evening the reminded me of my childhood. This is how it all started: Conner has to memorize a poem a week for school, so we were working on that. When he had it down pretty well, he called every body's attention and stood on the "stage" to recite his poem. He did it flawlessly. Of course, Ethan and Aubrey didn't want to be outdone so they each performed a song, then another and another. This evolved into an impromptu talent show that included dancing, singing and even "the worm."

These informal talent shows were something that my sister and I did a lot while growing up. We lined the family up on the couch, took our place on our own "stage" and sang songs that we made up on the spot. We thought that we were extremely talented and would likely end up with booming careers in Hollywood. It was fun to watch as dreams of working in show biz started in my own kids' imaginations.

After the talent show had run it's course, the kids ended up in the kitchen drawing and writing furiously. They seemed to have an excess of creative energy that couldn't be contained any longer. It came bubbling out onto their papers in lines and shapes and, in Ethan's case, the beginnings of a book. He read it to me after he finished the third page. Here's a snippet of our future novelists first book:

I Do Not Like To Get In Trouble

From Ethan

I like to learn a lot and have fun and I do not try to get in trouble but sometimes I get in trouble but I do not like to get in trouble at all because it is not fun at all. Not at all because sometimes it isn't fun because sometimes I just don't want to get in trouble. OK. It isn't fun at all. OK. Signed, Ethan.

I was really proud of him. Sometimes it is hard for Ethan to express his feelings and I thought he did a great job communicating how he feels about getting in trouble. By the time he was through reading, it was very clear to me that he does not like it. At all.

All in all, it was a really fun night.