Oompa Oops

Xanthe has been rehearsing three times a week since April for Willy Wonka.  I'm confident that she is the most adorable Oompa Loompa in history.  It's been fun to see her take on the rehearsal schedule as our only kid in the show.  It's fun that it's her thing, as opposed to being an "also-ran" in something the bigger kids have bigger parts in. 

Xanthe is extremely responsible.  As you probably know, she thinks through things very, very thoroughly and carefully so that she's sure she has it all straight in her mind.  She needed a bunch of props for rehearsals: a scooter, a flashlight with batteries, and costume pieces like a black shirt and pants, white tights, and the list goes on.  She's always prepared.  She even went to Coco for extra flashlight batteries when hers died.  She knows she sometimes has to heckle me for days to get things done for her, so it's just safer to ask Coco.  In fact, I think Coco bought her the flashlight to begin with, when the one I dug up for her was too small.  Thanks, Mom!

Last Saturday was a bit hectic for Xanthe.  The rest of the family was preparing for Abe's baptism while Xanthe was getting ready for play practice.  I was saying how I wished I could drop Xanthe off early so I could make it to the baptism on time, when I clicked on an email from the director.  Turns our, oompa loompas had to be there 30 minutes early, at 8:30, for makeup, a fact that had previously escaped me.  (Coco would have known!) It was 8:30. I jumped up and wrangled Xanthe and all her stuff into the car as Golda shoved the final bobby pin into her hair and I tried to convince her that any base makeup we have would make her look like a ghost, and she didn't need it.

So no base makeup, even though Jana said it was required.  Then Xanthe realized that not only had she not eaten anything, but she didn't have her extra bobby pins.  Crisis Clinic!  Golda had left them out of her bag when she did her hair, and there were NO EMERGENCY BOBBY PINS!  I felt bad when I droppe dher off, because "fly by the seat of your pants with no extra bobby pins, no makeup and no breakfast" is not Xanthe's style.  I assured her that I would be back right after the baptism with food and bobby pins, and that everything would be fine.

Leaving Abe's lovely baptism, Golda and I both checked our phones and saw that Jana had called and texted multiple times.  "Call me.  There is an emergency with Xanthe."  With theater people, and emergency can be the wrong color of tights, and I was pretty sure the white tights we'd come up with for Xanthe were too white.  Nevertheless, I called, and Jana informed me that Xanthe had passed out, cutting her shoulder and hitting her head on the wall.  There was blood, but it was all bandaged up.  I rushed down with some baptism refreshments and found Xanthe sanguine and unruffled.  She had eaten and had some juice, and calmly pointed out the smear of makeup on the wall from when she went down.

Freestone and Ptolemy routinely get light headed in their early morning violin lessons if they don't have food, and have to quickly sit down so they don't pass out.  This was something we didn't know about Xanthe, because she *always* eats.  She is hyper concerned about food, still, because of her babyhood experiences, and she is super responsible about getting breakfast.  So we never knew what would happen if she didn't!  Now that we know, I can only imagine how vigilant Xanthe will be about eating.  In fact, she got up yesterday and spent a good 45 minutes meticulously packing a lunch for dress rehearsal.  I'm glad she's so self-reliant, but I still feel badly that I let this happen to my baby oompa.  Live and learn and maybe pass out along the way.  It's all good.