The Nutcracker

We got all dressed up and went to see The Nutcracker today at Roussel Hall at Loyola. Annabelle loves ballerinas and I thought she’d make it through about 30 minutes and I thought Henry would make it through 5.
They both sat through the whole thing!
George and I kept looking at each other in amazement. Annabelle sat on my lap in her purple tutu and pink cowboy boots, completely enrapt, and Henry, though initially scared of the lowering lights, was transfixed. He lounged on George’s lap even laughing on certain parts he found funny. He seemed to really like the little boys that were running around on the stage wreaking havoc and the dancing mice. When the little girls were dancing, rocking their babies, and then the boys came tearing onto the stage, Henry laughed and whooped as if to say, “Ah, here they are! My tribe!”
Henry toddled around at intermission, playing with the drinking fountain, and Annabelle, the social scientist, sat down with a family of strangers and seriously observed their behaviors like Jane Goodall watching chimps.
By the end of the show, Annabelle started getting antsy and said “poopoo ballerina!” loud enough for the row in front of us to hear her. I saw all their shoulders shaking with laughter and I had tears running down my face I was laughing so hard–not good when trying to teach a three- year-old what is appropriate and what is not. Even though I shushed her, she could feel me laughing. Then she started making her funny faces and I knew it was only a matter of time before she’d be creating chaos. We left during the Waltz of the Flowers.
We came home and I gathered materials to make star windows as a pre-bed activity. When I entered the nursery, Annabelle had on huge blue glasses from her doctor kit and was trying to give an obliging Henry a shot. I love watching them interact. Today at the grocery store, they were holding up traffic hugging and kissing each other. Completely and utterly delightful.I will never tire of watching them interact with the world.