Birthday circle

At Genna's school, they celebrate the birthdays of the kids with summer birthdays the last two weeks of school. Genna's birthday circle was today and Noah, Jonah and I were invited to attend. I've been curious about birthday circles because Genna has talked about them (for other kid's birthdays).

Noah, Jonah and I arrived at the school (aka home) at 12:30. The kids were finishing their lunches and the teachers then gathered the students into a circle. Genna got to sit next to the teacher on the couch while the other kids sat in a circle on the floor. Genna wore her long silk Indian outfit. She has been begging me to let her wear it to school, but I have been resisting because it is a little too big for her, and it is really quite beautiful, so I don't want her to play in the rain and mud outside with it on. Today, I gave in and let her wear it on her birthday circle day.

During birthday circle, Genna was presented a birthday book which contains a drawing from each of the students and the teachers. Teacher Anjali went through each page and the kids explained their picture. Then we sang happy birthday in two languages: English and a language of Genna's choice. Genna chose French (I have heard others chose a language such as cat and sing "meow"). Then Genna chose five birthday greetings: smile, hug, 4-frog jumps, high five. Each student then got to give Genna their choice of the birthday greeting. Most kids chose to give Genna a hug or four frog jumps. Noah chose to hug Genna, I gave her a high five. Then, the kids line up to go outside and enjoy the birthday treat. For the treat, I provided a non-dairy, non-gluten, non-peanut, non-egg fruit cup with coconut-based whipped cream. It was actually quite difficult to come up with a treat with all those stipulations, but the kids liked it.

Treat outside - note that Jonah was invited to participate. He fits right in.

One of the things I like most about Genna's school is that there are essentially no restrictions on what they can wear.  As you can see in the photo above, Jackson is wearing his NASA uniform. In the back, Dillion is wearing his blue dinosaur costume (note the tail to the right of Arie's head). Genna is wearing her silk dress from India. There are often ballet outfits complete with tutus, princess dresses, as well as an assortment of super hero attire. Genna cried at bedtime tonight because she wouldn't get to go to her school after this week. She really wants to meet all of the new kids that will be going to the Ladybug school next year. I think we'll all miss the Ladybug school.