Carrefour Little Ambassador 2012

I've lots of posts lined up, but first, an update on Naomi's Carrefour Contest because everyone has been asking me about it.

Well, Naomi didn't win. She didn't place either, and I'm a bit more disappointed about that because I honestly think she put up a good showing that afternoon and was one of the more cooperative babies. The event was held from 2-5pm in the afternoon, which was very challenging for all the children involved. Poor Naomi was nodding off on my shoulder just before she was due to participate in the walking/running race, but she roused herself after I gave her a banana for a snack. Still, it was the slowest I've ever seen this little girl move. I guess I'm just glad she made it through the entire afternoon without any fuss. She's a trooper, my little baby, she is.

Now, how about some pictures as I re-count the day?

Bright-eyed and bushy tailed at the start, it's Naomi, Contestant No. 2!

I'd agonised a little over her outfit, and, after canvassing opinions from friends and family inevitably left me feeling more confused, I decided to go with this happy yellow Gap DvF dress. This was DD's choice, and I thought it'd stand out. It definitely did! The short skirt made for a pretty chic look too.

Saying "Hi" with Mummy. Figured I'd get in some practice with her.

This dress turned out to be a good choice also because, for some reason, Naomi decided it'll be fun to keep lifting up her dress to show everyone her tummy. The double layer of the dress came in useful in this regard and kept her modest!

Wanna see my tummy?

Segment 1 was the Parent intro. It was a good thing Naomi was 2nd up as it left me less time to get nervous.

 It's our turn on stage! The emcee was wearing a rather interesting outfit...

I had prepared a short speech which needed some cooperation from Naomi to pipe up with a couple of words. She managed a wave and a "Mama", but was otherwise fascinated with the microphone and attempted to put it in her mouth when I offered it to her. Haha.

Waving to everyone. 

I was insecure enough to bring my script with me on stage and made the mistake of blocking Naomi's face with the paper at certain points. Argh. On hindsight, maybe I should have gone with the Q&A format with the emcee that most of the other parents relied on. That might have put less stress on me too. This segment was a bit of a blur to me but DD assured me that it came off well. I was certainly glad when our turn was over!

We waited for all the rest of the contestants to make their introductions, then came the interesting part -- Segment 2: the Talent Showcase!

So what did I get Naomi to do in the end? We decided to showcase her "Death Grip". When I was trying to decide on a "talent" for her, I decided that it had to be something that was easy to execute and that she enjoyed to increase the chances of her pulling it off on stage. I ruled out action songs, making animal sounds, or dancing because there was a good chance she would just stand there and stare at the audience.

In the end, her talent was a brain wave on the part of my sister. Naomi is actually able to hold on to things really tightly and hang from a monkey bar. It's actually pretty amazing, considering she could do this at 12/13 months. So I came up with a little story about how she can hold on to things so tightly that we could lift her off the ground and she would still not let go.

We're up! Check out the emcee's questioning face.

Here's what I said:

Hi Everyone!

In today's talent segment, we thought we'd show you something we like to call Naomi's Death Grip. What is that? It is her ability to hang on to something so tightly that it is extremely difficult to pry it from her grip. This is a skill she has perfected with the help of her personal trainer, also known as her Gor-gor Noah, who helps her practice by attempting everyday to snatch toys out of her hands. Her grip is so good that she can hang on to a bar even if I lift her off the ground. And that's what we're going to show you today.   

And this is what she did:

Off the ground! I just love the emcee's shocked expression in this photo. 

All smiles when she reaches the ground because she LOVES doing this.

We do it again, just in case you missed that. Whee!

I was very proud of that act, which went without a hitch.

After that, as the rest of the contestants took their turns, Naomi started to fade. At one point, we saw her closing her eyes and drifting off to sleep on my shoulder. Unfortunately this was minutes before Segment 3, which was a running race, so I had to wake her up.

Sleepy baby, ready to doze off. It was already 4pm so I don't blame her.

Had to revive her by giving her the banana that I had originally intended to use to entice her to run over to me across the race track.

Still, she just wasn't in the mood for a race when the time came and she walked uncertainly over to me. Like I said earlier, I've never seen this girl move so slowly when I'm waving food at her. I guess it was just bad timing.

Ironically the banana did eventually wake her up and transform her back into her usual energetic self, but it was too late by then. Considering how I used to tank up on bananas during races, it should have occurred to me to give it to her earlier! Well, lesson (re-)learnt.

Revived by banana! And sharing a happy moment with Mummy and Nai-nai.

After all 3 segments were completed, the judges left to deliberate, and the kids in the audience were treated to a magic show. Noey loved it and found it incredibly funny, but the adults thought the magician's joke were of questionable taste.

The magician finished his act and it was time for the results. After everything, it was a bit of an anticlimax for us, because Naomi didn't win or place. I was disappointed, and immediately also felt sorry for the grandparents and family members who sacrificed their afternoon to support Naomi. Another parent, the father of another really cute boy, Kieran, even told me that he thought Naomi would win. That was really nice of him. I just smiled in response because I couldn't bring myself to say anything at that point.

Boo, you mean I didn't win?

I'm over it now. Going into this, I knew the competition would be tough. The kids were really cute. When everyone assembled at the start, DD told me he'd never seen so many big-eyed, cute babies in one space. And to qualify as one of the top 10 out of a field of over 550 participants is pretty amazing. Plus we did get $100 in Carrefour vouchers and a number of newspaper clippings to boot.

I know we gave it our best shot, and I'm happy with that.

Now, I'm re-thinking joining any more contests because man, that finals experience was draining and really hard work!

Little Nadyne, who was the eventual winner of the competition. She was very taken with Naomi's bell toy so I let her hold it for a bit. She is a cute one, isn't she? I thought she'd win, based on the photos of the finalists, and she really did. Congratulations!

In closing, I'd like to thank everyone for your support, in liking Naomi's picture, or letting me know that you were behind us. Thanks guys, it meant a lot. We hope we did you proud.