The Walz Family Adventures: Recital day

Rory had her Christmas performance today, "Snacks with Santa." It was definitely not a well planned show. The gymnasium was being used by a church until 12:30, which is when we were all supposed to be there. And nobody could get in to sit down, so the line stretched to the door, where it was too cold to go outside. So nobody with kids in the show could get in because of the crowd until they finally let people go sit. The organizational part of my brain was screaming, and the event-planner part was writing a strongly worded letter.

Rory did a great job hanging out backstage without me. She colored and taught everyone to play tic-tac-toe. Out front, things were kind of a mess. The woman who owns the dance studio is obnoxious on a good day, but put a microphone in her hand and she gives me a migraine. She spoke in between each performance, 10 decibels louder than necessary, letting us know how fabulous the teachers are and asking the kids to bow, etc. It felt very much like watching the rehearsal for an hour long advertisement for the studio, which was extra silly since everyone there already pays tuition. If she had just let the show happen, it would have been half as long. Also, the kids practice bowing after each performance in class, so maybe just let them do it.

Rory did a great job onstage, too. Much more engaged than her first show. She made a cranky face deliberately through the whole thing (she told me when I did her make up that she was going to), except for when she spotted Ryan in the audience, she lit up a little bit.

After they got off stage, each class went and sat on Santa's lap for a picture and then got to pick out two cookies. Rory sat on Santa's lap with no problem, for the first time ever, probably because her parents were not there.

Rory also announced the baby's name to her grandparents while we ate. First she told Diana, while Lee was away from the table:

"Grandma, the baby brother's name is Baby Johnny!"

And when Lee came back to the table, he got a slightly different version:

"Grandpa, the baby brother's name is Baby Johnny, and when he's ready to come out Mommy's body will push him out through her vagina!"

So that was delightful.

Now that the grandparents are in the know, we may as well tell you (but keep it off facebook, please). The baby's name is Andrew Louis, which means "Strong and manly renowned warrior." Andrew is not a family name, which was kind of the point. It was on our list, and I kept cycling through names, randomly calling the baby them. When Ryan overheard me call the baby Andrew, it felt really right to him, so it won. Louis is after me, to underscore the idea that he can be related to me, and we can still have a good relationship. If Rory had her way, he would be named Charlie or Alistair. But, she said today that she likes the name Andrew now. And, for the record, he will be Andy, not Drew.