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Apr. 16th, 2019 07:48 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
guppy_sandhuGuppy had said, on various occasions, that childrearing doesn't get much difficult after the third one. He stood by that statement, but it was certainly a jolt to the system having a newborn in the house again.
Apparently, all Sandhu children had to be either easy or difficult babies. Fry and Brooke were difficult, Coral and Gil were easy. Eddy was looking like another difficult one. To Fran's disappointment, she flatly refused to breastfeed despite not being premature.
"I hoped that one of the five would take to it." she said.
"Brooke breastfed." Guppy pointed out.
"Yes, but she needed top up feeding all the time." Fran said. "And then after a few weeks she gave up because I was too inefficient."
"Well, the important thing is that they're fed." Guppy said.
Between Eddy having colic, and Fry kicking off because Eddy was noisy, things were pretty busy at home. So Guppy was caught off guard when he went to pick Gil up from dance class, and was handed a leaflet.
"What's this?" he asked Gil.
"A nordytun." Gil said. "Can I go, pweeeese?"
Guppy looked at the leaflet.
"Audition." He corrected. "'We are looking for boy dancers aged between four and seven to star in a TV commercial for Springbok Junior Trainers. Dance experience essential.'"
"Yeh. That's meeee!" Gil swung on his leg.
"We best ask your mum, she might not like it." Guppy said.
"Mummy will say yes." Gil said. "Cos, cos, cos I am a middle child now and she will say you have to nurger me."
Guppy couldn't argue with that, so a few weeks later he found himself driving Gil to the audition. Brooke insisted on tagging along, even though Guppy pointed out to her that she had no dance experience and was not a boy.
"I don't care, it's sexismist." Brooke said, folding her arms. "And Mum says sexistism is wrong."
"Okay you can come." Guppy said. "But you are to be on your best behaviour, you are not to disrupt Gil's audition, and you are not to throw a strop if they don't let you try out."
"Why does Brookie have to come?" Gil complained.
"Because she's also a middle child and wants to be nurtured." Guppy said, bundling them into the car while they complained that each other was on their side of the car and breathing their air and pulling faces until he told them that if they didn't pack it in he was turning the car around and nobody would be wearing trainers.
When they got to the audition, apparently Brooke wasn't the only one who thought she could pass an audition where a boy was wanted. But the girl at the desk looked sceptical.
"How old is she?" she asked, indicating Brooke.
"Seven." Guppy said. "And Gil is four."
The girl looked dubious, but handed them both a number and took their names.
"It's a two part audition, they're going to teach you all some moves in a group, and then if you pass that stage they'll have you up one at a time to show us your best dance. They'll also ask you to read out a line. You brought your music with you? Good, okay. Make your way to the group - oh, and one more thing; if you get tapped on the shoulder and they say your number and that you're finished, that means your audition is over, and you should go to the side of the room and leave quietly."
Gil nodded enthusiastically.
"He can only read a little bit." Guppy said. "Can it be read to him beforehand? He's learned a few lines for dance before."
"Oh sure, that's fine." the girl said. "It's a voice test not a reading test."
Guppy took the kids through to a large hall full of overexcited children and parents. One woman was rigorously taking her sons through some warm ups. Another was tidying up some triplet boys in matching outfits. Gil had never seen so many other boy dancers, and looked quite delighted. Brooke was rather disappointed that a handful more girls had turned up, mostly more tomboyish than she was.
"All right, kids!" An enthusiastic dance coach clapped her hands. "Little ones at the front, big ones at the back, spread yourselves out and make sure you can stretch out your arms without touching the dancer next to you. Mummies and Daddies, make your way back to the waiting area, you can watch on the screen, and if your child is finished we will send them back through to you."
Guppy gave the kids a wave. Brooke made her way right to the back, and Gil right to the front, and Guppy could see why the first girl asked their ages. Brooke was a good head taller than nearly all the other kids, about the same height as the tallest two boys. Gil was the smallest of them all, and the coach put him right on the front row.
He watched on the screen as the coach took them through the moves. To give Brooke credit, given she had never danced properly before in her life, she kept up pretty well, which Guppy put down to her being sporty and having a good memory for this sort of thing. Gil seemed to be holding his own well compared with the other little ones he was standing with.
Nobody got eliminated for the first twenty minutes or so. Then the instructors started going round tapping kids on the shoulder. Some of the kids came out in tears, and Guppy felt a little uncomfortable. Was this really the right thing to expose his children to? He held his breath as the instructor went towards Brooke, but they passed her to tap the boy next to her on his shoulder. He held it again as the instructor went across the front row and eliminated all but Gil and one of the other littlest children.
And then, just like that, part one was over. Gil and Brooke had both passed, and came out looking happy and excited.
"All right, take a break, grab some water, we'll be calling you back in here in number order." the coach called out of the door.
Since they were numbers forty eight and forty nine, Guppy warned them that they would probably have a bit of a wait, and they sat and ate lunch. Then Gil went over to make friends with the other little boy from his row.
"Hi! I like your dancing." Gil said, going up to the little boy who was waiting with his mum.
"That's kind of him, say thank you Hugo." the mum said.
"Thank you." Hugo said, on command.
Guppy smiled slightly and let Gil get on with it. He looked around and found that Brooke had disappeared to talk to the other girls who were trying out. Typical! But Brooke apparently got turned down, as she returned with a sour expression and folded arms.
"You okay?" Guppy asked her.
"Yes."
"What's up?"
"Nothing." Brooke glowered.
"Were those girls mean to you?" Guppy frowned.
"No."
Guppy gave it up. When the number called got to thirty eight, he got them both to warm up again. And then when Brooke was called, he took Gil with them to wait quietly.
"So, Brooke, how long have you been dancing?" the coach asked, as Brooke took centre stage.
"Oh, years and years." Brooke said.
"Informally." Guppy said, casting a look at Brooke. No good lying about it in case they asked her to perform specific moves which she wouldn't know.
The coach put Brooke's music on, and Brooke danced. It was really more a combination of her hockey and karate moves, but the overall effect was kind of cool. After a minute, the coach stopped her.
"Okay, thanks Brooke. You have style, girl! But I'm afraid you're not quite what we're looking for."
"Because I'm a girl?" Brooke pouted.
"Not really, though we were marketing more to boys, but we're looking for a little kid. You're very tall, nothing wrong with that, but you look more grown up than seven." the coach said.
Brooke looked furious, but left the stage with reasonable grace. The coach called Gil up. Guppy wondered whether Gil would get rejected for not looking four, but the coach let him do his dance, and say his line.
"Gilbert, how old are you?" the coach asked.
"Faw." Gil said.
"You're a very good dancer for four, Gilbert." the coach said. "We will put you on the short list."
"Am I too shawt?" Gil's face fell.
"No honey, that means we might pick you, you've got a good chance. We'll let you know after we've seen all the other dancers."
As they left, Guppy had one elated child, and one miserable one, and was trying to work out how he felt about it. After all, it was Gil's thing really, not Brooke's. But as they got into the car, Brooke asked him a question.
"Dad? Am I fat?"
Guppy looked around at her.
"You're within normal proportions, Brooke. You're taller than most other kids, so you're going to weigh more. Why?"
"Those girls said I wouldn't get the role because fat girls can't dance." Brooke said.
"Well, you've been dancing for less than a day, and you beat a couple of dozen of the other kids in round one." Guppy said. "So you clearly can dance, and they're talking crap, okay?"
Brooke seemed satisfied by the answer, for the time being.
"But I can't win." Guppy said to Fran that evening. "What works for one kid is awful for another."
"It doesn't matter." Fran said, rocking Eddy in her baby chair. "So long as we keep trying."
Apparently, all Sandhu children had to be either easy or difficult babies. Fry and Brooke were difficult, Coral and Gil were easy. Eddy was looking like another difficult one. To Fran's disappointment, she flatly refused to breastfeed despite not being premature.
"I hoped that one of the five would take to it." she said.
"Brooke breastfed." Guppy pointed out.
"Yes, but she needed top up feeding all the time." Fran said. "And then after a few weeks she gave up because I was too inefficient."
"Well, the important thing is that they're fed." Guppy said.
Between Eddy having colic, and Fry kicking off because Eddy was noisy, things were pretty busy at home. So Guppy was caught off guard when he went to pick Gil up from dance class, and was handed a leaflet.
"What's this?" he asked Gil.
"A nordytun." Gil said. "Can I go, pweeeese?"
Guppy looked at the leaflet.
"Audition." He corrected. "'We are looking for boy dancers aged between four and seven to star in a TV commercial for Springbok Junior Trainers. Dance experience essential.'"
"Yeh. That's meeee!" Gil swung on his leg.
"We best ask your mum, she might not like it." Guppy said.
"Mummy will say yes." Gil said. "Cos, cos, cos I am a middle child now and she will say you have to nurger me."
Guppy couldn't argue with that, so a few weeks later he found himself driving Gil to the audition. Brooke insisted on tagging along, even though Guppy pointed out to her that she had no dance experience and was not a boy.
"I don't care, it's sexismist." Brooke said, folding her arms. "And Mum says sexistism is wrong."
"Okay you can come." Guppy said. "But you are to be on your best behaviour, you are not to disrupt Gil's audition, and you are not to throw a strop if they don't let you try out."
"Why does Brookie have to come?" Gil complained.
"Because she's also a middle child and wants to be nurtured." Guppy said, bundling them into the car while they complained that each other was on their side of the car and breathing their air and pulling faces until he told them that if they didn't pack it in he was turning the car around and nobody would be wearing trainers.
When they got to the audition, apparently Brooke wasn't the only one who thought she could pass an audition where a boy was wanted. But the girl at the desk looked sceptical.
"How old is she?" she asked, indicating Brooke.
"Seven." Guppy said. "And Gil is four."
The girl looked dubious, but handed them both a number and took their names.
"It's a two part audition, they're going to teach you all some moves in a group, and then if you pass that stage they'll have you up one at a time to show us your best dance. They'll also ask you to read out a line. You brought your music with you? Good, okay. Make your way to the group - oh, and one more thing; if you get tapped on the shoulder and they say your number and that you're finished, that means your audition is over, and you should go to the side of the room and leave quietly."
Gil nodded enthusiastically.
"He can only read a little bit." Guppy said. "Can it be read to him beforehand? He's learned a few lines for dance before."
"Oh sure, that's fine." the girl said. "It's a voice test not a reading test."
Guppy took the kids through to a large hall full of overexcited children and parents. One woman was rigorously taking her sons through some warm ups. Another was tidying up some triplet boys in matching outfits. Gil had never seen so many other boy dancers, and looked quite delighted. Brooke was rather disappointed that a handful more girls had turned up, mostly more tomboyish than she was.
"All right, kids!" An enthusiastic dance coach clapped her hands. "Little ones at the front, big ones at the back, spread yourselves out and make sure you can stretch out your arms without touching the dancer next to you. Mummies and Daddies, make your way back to the waiting area, you can watch on the screen, and if your child is finished we will send them back through to you."
Guppy gave the kids a wave. Brooke made her way right to the back, and Gil right to the front, and Guppy could see why the first girl asked their ages. Brooke was a good head taller than nearly all the other kids, about the same height as the tallest two boys. Gil was the smallest of them all, and the coach put him right on the front row.
He watched on the screen as the coach took them through the moves. To give Brooke credit, given she had never danced properly before in her life, she kept up pretty well, which Guppy put down to her being sporty and having a good memory for this sort of thing. Gil seemed to be holding his own well compared with the other little ones he was standing with.
Nobody got eliminated for the first twenty minutes or so. Then the instructors started going round tapping kids on the shoulder. Some of the kids came out in tears, and Guppy felt a little uncomfortable. Was this really the right thing to expose his children to? He held his breath as the instructor went towards Brooke, but they passed her to tap the boy next to her on his shoulder. He held it again as the instructor went across the front row and eliminated all but Gil and one of the other littlest children.
And then, just like that, part one was over. Gil and Brooke had both passed, and came out looking happy and excited.
"All right, take a break, grab some water, we'll be calling you back in here in number order." the coach called out of the door.
Since they were numbers forty eight and forty nine, Guppy warned them that they would probably have a bit of a wait, and they sat and ate lunch. Then Gil went over to make friends with the other little boy from his row.
"Hi! I like your dancing." Gil said, going up to the little boy who was waiting with his mum.
"That's kind of him, say thank you Hugo." the mum said.
"Thank you." Hugo said, on command.
Guppy smiled slightly and let Gil get on with it. He looked around and found that Brooke had disappeared to talk to the other girls who were trying out. Typical! But Brooke apparently got turned down, as she returned with a sour expression and folded arms.
"You okay?" Guppy asked her.
"Yes."
"What's up?"
"Nothing." Brooke glowered.
"Were those girls mean to you?" Guppy frowned.
"No."
Guppy gave it up. When the number called got to thirty eight, he got them both to warm up again. And then when Brooke was called, he took Gil with them to wait quietly.
"So, Brooke, how long have you been dancing?" the coach asked, as Brooke took centre stage.
"Oh, years and years." Brooke said.
"Informally." Guppy said, casting a look at Brooke. No good lying about it in case they asked her to perform specific moves which she wouldn't know.
The coach put Brooke's music on, and Brooke danced. It was really more a combination of her hockey and karate moves, but the overall effect was kind of cool. After a minute, the coach stopped her.
"Okay, thanks Brooke. You have style, girl! But I'm afraid you're not quite what we're looking for."
"Because I'm a girl?" Brooke pouted.
"Not really, though we were marketing more to boys, but we're looking for a little kid. You're very tall, nothing wrong with that, but you look more grown up than seven." the coach said.
Brooke looked furious, but left the stage with reasonable grace. The coach called Gil up. Guppy wondered whether Gil would get rejected for not looking four, but the coach let him do his dance, and say his line.
"Gilbert, how old are you?" the coach asked.
"Faw." Gil said.
"You're a very good dancer for four, Gilbert." the coach said. "We will put you on the short list."
"Am I too shawt?" Gil's face fell.
"No honey, that means we might pick you, you've got a good chance. We'll let you know after we've seen all the other dancers."
As they left, Guppy had one elated child, and one miserable one, and was trying to work out how he felt about it. After all, it was Gil's thing really, not Brooke's. But as they got into the car, Brooke asked him a question.
"Dad? Am I fat?"
Guppy looked around at her.
"You're within normal proportions, Brooke. You're taller than most other kids, so you're going to weigh more. Why?"
"Those girls said I wouldn't get the role because fat girls can't dance." Brooke said.
"Well, you've been dancing for less than a day, and you beat a couple of dozen of the other kids in round one." Guppy said. "So you clearly can dance, and they're talking crap, okay?"
Brooke seemed satisfied by the answer, for the time being.
"But I can't win." Guppy said to Fran that evening. "What works for one kid is awful for another."
"It doesn't matter." Fran said, rocking Eddy in her baby chair. "So long as we keep trying."
