The Nutcracker

Today I took Isabella to see The Nutcracker for the first time. Having been a pseudo-ballerina at one time in my life I have been anxious to share this experience with her. I made peace with the fact that we would most likely be leaving early which made the experience a little easier. Not to say it was easy. Isabella LOVED it. And you see, that was the problem. From the moment the overture started her head bobbed in unison with the music and her little legs ached in need to join in on the movement. She was able to contain herself pretty well for the first half, thanks in part to our awesome seats. We were only 3 rows back in the balcony (which I have always preferred to get the full stage view) with nobody in front of us directly. She had no trouble seeing. At intermission she entertained most of the lobby with her skilled arabesques and even inspired some other young folk to join in. For the second act we moved to an empty section of the balcony as I anticipated an early exit. I was correct in my thinking. She enjoyed Mother Ginger with the children running under her skirts, but the Waltz of the Flowers is a little too long for anyone to handle. I was glad to take off, as the production was good (definitely better than I could have ever danced) but the set and choreography (in my humble opinion) uninspiring. Plus we beat the traffic (yay!). I am glad that we did it, but I will probably hold off for a few years before we do it again. As Isabella said when we were done, "mommy, that was a really long movie."

Oh Christmas Tree...

Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree, how long will you be standing? Seriously....

We put up our trees December 1st and neither girl will leave them alone. Noelle's main goal is to savor the taste of every ornament, while Isabella likes to make up stories about the ballerinas - this cannot be done without taking them off the tree. Her favorite story is about the double life of ballerinas- I bet you didn't know they are physical therapists too. According to Isabella, ballerinas help get the people out of bed who have headaches and knees that hurt. It is no coincidence that I also went to work this week for the first time in ages. This is how I've explained my job to her because I don't think she would understand that some people have artificial knees and it is my job to torture them, or that the 300lb guy that just laid his bike down on "The Dragon" and has a shattered pelvis must walk TODAY (per dr.'s orders). I do love my job but it is a tough one to explain to the queen of "but why?" On a funny note, Isabella was crying before bed last night. When we asked her why, she said through her tears "I am just a drama queen!"

As for Noelle, we have increased our workload by 90% by putting up the trees. We need to know where she is now every second. She is very skilled at taking off ornaments. Her favorites are the plastic icicles. She'll double fist them and lick away. Yum! The grandmas are going to be very happy to have us in their "empty nester inappropriately decorated for children" houses this Christmas. The neat part about all of this is that you can truly see the excitement in their faces. There is something magical about all of those lights.