Sam's Playschool CNY Celebration

Sam's playschool, The Children's House, had a Chinese New Year celebration today, parents invited.

Had to wake Sam up early to reach school by 9am, to avoid traffic congestion. So he seemed dazed & sleepy the entire morning. Thumb-sucking all the time.

Program started at 9:30am. All the students were sitting on red canvas on the grass patch in front of the school, parents on chairs behind. I was carrying Sam sitting with the rest of his class, hence this not-so-good viewpoint with my handphone video:



Kick-off with dancing by the upper-level students: 2 groups of girls dancing in front, 2 groups of boys at the back, flanked in each corner by a boy waving his ribbon.

Then the boys put on their mini lion heads & "funny-man" heads for their own version of the lion dance. The teachers on my side had to remind them to spread out & come closer for their younger schoolmates to see. :)

The real lion dance troupe was pretty good. The 采青 was not only done on the red pillars in the video, but also on a separate taller metal post later, & then the traditional plate of prosperity.

But best was to see the lions come close to the little kids for them to pet, & distribute the mandarin oranges via the lion's mouth. I certainly didn't expect that!

Lucky Sam seem to love the lions: was sitting so sedately on my lap all the time, then he started to point to the golden lion on the red pillars. When the silver lion came to give the oranges, he actually walked a step away from me!

Then he came totally back to his old naughty self when we went back to the classroom for CNY snacks & drinks. I took one of each type of cookies, & he took 1 bite on each & every one!

All in all, an interesting first for Sam & me!