Faith Renewed

2 weeks and a day after the first audition, Hans got a call back for a second audition. The email was sent on a Monday for a Tuesday call back! How does one prepare for it and what goes into this preparation?! I asked Hans to prepare a little monologue about his most favourite person.

Hans' first pick was Ironman! The first sentence of his monologue included words like kidnapped, stabbed, killed and murdered! Seriously?! Time to quickly pick another superhero who has a little less violence in his past. Next choice was Captain America. A good story about a boy overcoming physical limitations and achieving his goal of serving his country!

Hans had 15 minutes allocated for him. He was in the audition for over 15 minutes! I thought that it was a good indication. Then, almost a week goes by and NO word. I couldn't sleep at all. On the 7th day, I missed a call and when I called back, it was the Casting Director!! He had good news; they wanted Hans to be part of the TVO show. After several auditions, they selected 14 kids.

Yesterday was Hans' first day of filming with dialogue. He worked with a script and did 3 scenes for an episode. He was exhausted after a 5 hour schedule; however, he was so happy and can't wait to go back tomorrow!!

Thank you Gods and Goddesses!

 

Marketing Ploys

One fine day, a few weeks ago, Hans and I discovered that Danino has new collectible drinkable yogurt containers! There were 20 to collect in total.

Hans got all excited. He picked up one pack that has 8 drinkable yogurt containers. When we got home, he wanted to drink some yogurt. So, he had one container. Then, he wanted another. He was so proud of his collection of 2 containers. Before he went to bed, he wondered if he could have one more container?! I understood his enthusiasm for these collectible containers as well as his curiosity, so I asked him to grab one more from the fridge. A few seconds later, I heard a loud cry of outrage, "HEY! I already got this one!!"

Poor Hans thought that each pack would have 8 different collectible containers. He was shocked to find a duplicate!! I had to get him to sit down and explain that it doesn't work that way. Companies want kids to buy a lot of packs to finish off their collections. They don't make any money if a kid can finish off his or her collection by buying 3 or 4 packs of yogurt containers‎!! I let Hans know that it is a marketing ploy.

There was a pause of perhaps 5 seconds before Hans exclaimed, "I LOVE this Marketing Ploy!!" and ran off happily.

So far, he has collected 18 out of 20 collectible containers. We continue to buy the 8-packs so Hans can one day complete his collection!

 

Semi Finals

I took Hans to his very first Raptors' game a few weeks ago. Within a few minutes, he was in sync with the crowd as they yelled in unison "DEFENCE!! DEFENCE‎!!".

It is, in general, a great feeling to support our team. For a child, I suppose, it is amazing to scream and shout‎, and not be told to be quiet! Personally, it was too loud for me; but then, it was a great opportunity to share an experience with Hans...it was my first time at a Raptors' game as well!!

Lucky for us rookies, ‎it was also the 20th Anniversary of the Raptors!! We got to see the "6 Founders" and we also got a performance by the original "Raptors' Girls". So much excitement and to top it off, one of the boyfriends decides to propose to one of the original "Raptors' Girls"!! Hans was truly enchanted by everything that happened. It was also good that the Raptors won the game.

When we got home, Hans declared that he loves Basketball and he loves the Toronto Raptors. He just had one question about the guy proposing to his girlfriend. Hans didn't understand why the crowd clapped and cheered?! I told him that the couple are engaged and everyone was happy for them!! Hans didn't get it and I told him that "engagement is something that happens before a wedding". Hans got it and he confirmed it by stating that "it is like the semifinals before the final"!

The things we learn at a Basketball game.