Team.

I pulled T and M out of school early this afternoon to go to H's preschool Christmas program. I knew it'd be 20 minutes of singing and some cookies, but it was worth it to me.

A couple parents at school and even my mother-in-law questioned the decision. I don't regret it for a second.

I want my kids to be a team. The home team. To celebrate each other. To be each other's biggest fans. To be able to look out in a crowd and see the ones who've got your back. To enjoy the little perk of leaving school early to see your little brother sing {or freeze} in front of everyone.

H only sang the first song. Jingle Bells. He knew all the rest, he's been singing them to me every chance he got for the last week. The exuberant little girl next to him drummed up a few giggles and his newfound self-consciousness started right up.

My not-a-shy-bone-in-his-body boy was a little bit shy.

During the program, M kept nudging me, "why is he looking down? Why is he being shy? He's not shy."

And even T, his whisper voice on the video says, "H, look at me, don't look at all the strangers, look at me."

Yet after the program, after the cookies and the chaos of people and sprinkles galore, we get in the car and H says "Thanks for coming to my program!"

And T and M both tell him Thank You's and You did Great's and it's clear and it's all sparkly and shiny to me when I realize the team they all root for is each other.

Winner of the Sesame Street Live tickets is: #22 Lea

Winner of Bittersweet is: #5 Rachel