We were there early to make sure we got good seats. Unfortunately, we had no idea where Owen would be sitting, so we just picked seats in the front row.
Katie did pretty good, considering we had to wait about 35 minutes. We kept her occupied with my phone. 🙂
Then it was finally time for the graduates to enter. And surprise! Owen was the Line Leader (something which he LOVES and always begs to do)…except he apparently got a HUGE case of stage fright as they came into the room and he kept his face buried in his hands, rubbing his eyes, and was almost crying…and would not have made it down the aisle if Miss Ashley hadn’t grabbed hs hand and guided him to the seats. I couldn’t even get a picture of him until he was past me. Poor kid.
Trying to talk to Owen to make him feel better.
Nope, still upset. And here you can see I had just about the worst possible seat in the entire room to try and get a picture of him (which you’ll see better in the videos).
This was Owen pretty much the whole time everyone was singing or otherwise participating.
There were a few slightly more normal moments.
“Days of the Week” (no participation)
“Pete the Cat” (the song he sang outside the other day)—a partial, because he wasn’t participating at all.
This was “The World is a Rainbow” which I didn’t even try to record because by that point, there was no hope of Owen participating.
When I looked back up, they had finally pulled him to the side so he could sit by himself but I motioned him over to us. He didn’t want to sit on my lap, but instead just kind of layed in my lap and let me hug him. Katie reached out to touch his arm and say “It’s okay, Owie.” /sniff
Then I tried to get a picture of him in my lap and he was all smiles once he saw himself in the camera…
But he even refused to go up and get his diploma so Miss Ashley had to come hand it to him.
As soon as it was over and he realized he had to wait in the room while we left, he was upset again. We all filed outside to wait for the graduates to exit and walk down the sidewalk. Katie was happy to be let free.
Everyone else coming out of the doors was happy and running…and then there was Owen.
Being comforted by his sister. 🙂
I wanted a picture of Owen and Braxton—but even THAT very normal act couldn’t break through his funk.
Braxton really tried—even talking to him. I thought this was so cute…it looks like he’s giving him a pep talk!
At least we got a decent family pic snapped by the TA Miss Sam. 🙂
And then after he had a snack, he was back to his normal self and very willingly took a picture with Miss Ashley.
And in the packet we took home, we had this picture, obviously taken BEFORE the ceremony started. Our graduate. 🙂
OMG. I can hardly look at the sad pictures. I think GJ would have had to leave the room. And with Katie comforting him. Does he have any idea what happened?
I don’t really think so. He knows he was being shy but otherwise he’s just fine. He doesn’t feel sad or bad about it…which I guess is a good thing.
Phew. My remorse would bury me. Glad he’s fine!