Even though it was a non working day, all three of us woke up at the same time we usually does on a weekday. We even went for breakfast before we headed off to Tara's school.
We reached 15 mins early and most of the people have yet to arrive. By 9am, the amphitheatre outside Tara's school was crowded with families, and most of them wore the colours that their kid represented.
I brought Tara to the side where the teachers were assembling the children for the games. When I left Tara with her teachers, she went bawling, and was calling out for me. I left after telling her I will be watching out for her at the outside.
I picked up a tambourine in front of the seating area and waited with anticipation. When the teachers led the children out to the open area, the crowd cheered! And the cheers were the loudest when the playgroup children came out at last. Tara was still crying a little when she walked out, and searched the sea of faces for us. Even though she stopped crying after that, her face still looked sulky.
Every single kid is involved. Each level have 2 games to play, starting from Tara's playgroup. And for the first game, she was the first in line to start. The kids were supposed to wear a ring on their head and carry, on each hand, a half filled bottle of water, walked to a red stand, turn around, walked back to the starting point, and give the next person in line a high ten, as a sign to proceed. As the kids were between 2 - 3 years only, this was considered a little challenging.
Tara's eyes were still red when the game started, but she knew what to do. She ambled towards the red stand holding the pet bottles, turned one round and ambled back. It was so cute and funny and I was really proud of her when she completed her task, even though she wasn't as fast as the other team. I turned around to see Bob beaming with pride too.
The second game needed a family member to join in, just as Bob had surmised. Bob took the camera from me and nudged me forward. But when the teachers demonstrated the game, I realised that I wasn't suited to play. In this game, the child had to walked to the end of the line stepping on stools. The parent has to place one stool after another for the kid to step on. The parent/family member is not allowed to hold the child's hand or in any way, aid the child to complete the game faster. Since I'm wearing a skirt, I cannot squat down to place the stools and Bob had to take over.
Tara was the second last to play in this game. She started slow, and at one point, refused to take another step and we had to cajoled her. And in the middle of the track, she took a step closed to the edge of the stool, couldn't get her balance, fell down and hit the side of her waist. Bob was placing the next stool and didn't managed to catch her in time. She cried real loud and clutched her side. Two of her classmates came up to consoled her, real sweet, and one of them was the boy whom Tara didn't really like. And the best (or not) part is, I actually managed to catch this scene on video!
We tried to get Tara to calm down and take the next step, which she simply refused to and kept holding on to Bob and wanted him to carry. And after quite a while, with a lot of encouragement from the teachers, us and her friends, she took a step, and the crowd cheered! I guess it was the cheers that pushed her to finished the game.
I realised one parent whose child is in Tara's class wore pink, and then I found out that Tara's classmate was in the red team (like Tara) but her brother, also in the same day care, was in the white team, so it makes perfect sense for the Mummy to wear pink. Great thinking or what huh?
The sports day ended with a chicken (or chicky?) dance and a song performed by all the kids. Each kid gets to bring home 2 apples too. There isn't any winners for the games because the sports day was held not for this purpose. It was more in the name of fun and also bonding for the families. We did enjoy ourselves but the little girl only managed to warm up at the end of the whole thing. And the weather was so perfect that almost all the photos came out quite nice!
It was definitely a great way to spend our Saturday morning!
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