My 11 year old son finished the last of three musical theater performances last night. My son played the Hercules part in "Zero to Hero and he sang "Go the Distance." He also played Baloo singing "Bare Necessities" in the musical theater group's Disney animated musical revue. He had about a week to learn the Baloo part when one of the actors couldn't do it. It was challenging because he had to learn the lyrics, the choreography, and the dialogue quickly and with motor dyspraxia the choreography is harder for him to learn, especially when he has to sing and dance at the same time--but he did it and he did it well in his solos and in all of the 17 other songs he had parts in. He was able to do it even though he had to wear the brace during all rehearsals. I don't think anyone watching the show would describe him as uncoordinated. He is not the best dancer, but he did it well enough. His timing on Bare Necessities was really good and he was able to time the acting and dialogue and the singing to fit the music. His "parents" came in late for their part when he sang "Go the Distance" and he handled that well also, cutting short his dialogue and making it fit the amount of time he had before he had to start singing again. He also handled his shoe coming off during a dress rehearsal by quickly kicking it behind a group of kids in the scene and shoving his foot back in the shoe before anyone else noticed. He did not break character or seem anxious about it at all. I can't believe how much his confidence has grown the last few months. There are five girls who are close to his age in the group and they seem to like him. One of the girls used the word "cute" to describe him. He always hated it when I used that word to describe him. He seemed a little embarrassed when two of them hugged him after the show, but I also noticed that he doesn't want me to hang around as much any more.

He said the girls were surprised to find out that he is several months younger than two of them. They all thought he was older.

He had more trouble than usual falling asleep last night because of all the excitement, so he spent half the night reading history.