Undoukai 2013

On October 10th, Theo participated in his very last kindergarten undoukai, or sports day. Sports day in kindergarten has very little to do with athletics, other than a few short races and warm ups, and is basically a day for each yochien class to present an act they have been working on for the past few months.

After a bit of stretching and warm ups, groups of children ran short obstacle races. Last year, Theo couldn't be bothered to speed up beyond a slow lope and came dead last in every race. I was curious to see if he'd developed even one tiny grain of competitiveness over the course of the year but it seems that he didn't. The funny thing is that he is a super high energy kid who is normally tearing around, climbing everything in sight, and bouncing off the walls, but when it comes to organized sport with large groups of children he shuts right down, whines, and drags his feet. I have a feeling that Dustin's parents felt the same way during his short lived time in peewee hockey. Good thing for Theo that our family is much more supportive of individual physical activities like kayaking, hiking, and cycling.

William was pretty bored/cranky since, from his point of view, it was four hours of fun that he wasn't allowed to participate in. It also spanned his normal lunch and nap time which always undermines Williams efforts to behave.

                     Meanwhile, Rosie had no problem sitting on Obaasan's lap, playing with her hands, and napping. Four months is such an easy age!

The first year classes did a bizarre but cute Halloween play and dance, the plot of which completely eluded me. The second year classes wore sparkly little costumes and did a routine using large multicoloured parachutes. Meanwhile, Theo and his fellow third years were getting all dressed up in plaid outfits for their Scottish military tattoo presentation. 

I really have no idea how they manage to train a group of sixty 5-6 year olds to play drums, march, and wave flags without it disintegrating to complete mayhem, but they did and I was utterly amazed. It was absolutely amazing to say the least. Here is a video that we took of the marching. I apologize for the bad quality and shakiness, but it does let you get the idea. If you scroll to about 60% of the way through, you can actually see Theo close up. 

Afterward it was another hour and a half of thank you songs and parent participation dances (seriously, why do these things have to take so long? I don't even think the kids were enjoying it by this point) and then Theo's final yochien undoukai was finished. Good job Theo! Can't wait to see what you will do next year once you start elementary school!