Even More Culture!

This past weekend the Shepards and Nana Audrey and Papa Harold attended a PuppetWorks production of Cinderella.

Although Stella has attended a puppet show before, this would be crazy-Marni's first such adventure. I was pretty sure I would have to remove her from the theater within minutes because she's just not a sit-down kind of gal.

Marni spent all of her pre-show time running around the theater like a lunatic. I figured we might as well let her tire herself out before the lights went down. At one point (for no apparent reason) she sat herself down on the lap of a little girl about the same age as herself. Not sure why.

When the main puppeteer came out to talk the the kids, Marni climbed onto my lap (I was sitting on a mat on the floor in front of the stage). She was riveted to what the man was saying. Stella raised her hand and said "Excuse me!". She then asked the puppeteer if the puppets were going to come off the stage and "get them". He laughed and said no. Then, the lights went down and the show started. Marni was craning her neck to see the puppets and eventually ended up standing in my lap.

Then, slowly but surely, she crept off my lap and sat by herself on the mat. Then she crept closer and closer to the stage. All the time with fingers in her mouth and holding a stuffed dog.

When the first act finished she smiled and clapped with everyone else. During the second act she moved so close to the stage that I thought she was going to climb on. She was retrieved.

She spent the rest of the play either sitting by herself or on my or Lisa's lap. She loved the whole thing and behaved perfectly. Go figure. Oh... by the way... Stella loved it too (from Nana Audrey's lap).

After the performance, the puppeteer brought out the Cinderella puppet to meet the kids. As you can see from the video, Marni was a little scared but got a kiss from the puppet nonetheless.

A Day on the Town

Last Sunday (2/10) Stella and I attended the New York Theater Ballet presentation of The Magic of Dance. Joining us were Steve and Emma Sledzik and Jill and Tyler Hoffman.

Stella enjoyed the subway ride in, and enjoyed the ballet even more. Emma and Tyler were also fascinated. The middle portion of the performance was a demonstration of ballet moves and theater arts. All three kids followed along with the dance moves while standing in their seats.

After ballet, the Sledziks went on their way and the Hoffmans joined us for lunch at a coffee shop. Lots of fun there.

Then, off to a handsome cab ride around Central Park. The kids had a blast. They were yelling to people and waving to everyone while snuggled under their fluffy red blanket.

Next stop... F.A.O. Schwarz. The kids played on the giant piano keys on the floor and spent a lot of time in the Barbi area playing with a Barbi computer. Then, big-pretzel time on the plaza outside of the store.

We bid farewell to Jill and Tyler and headed home on the subway.

Tiny Dancer

Last week Stella's dance studio allowed parents to stay and watch the class.

I wasn't expecting too much because Stella has been a little shy about participating in the class. Although she had been getting better as of late, I had a feeling that she would clam up again when her parents were in the room.

I was wrong about that.

Stella pretty much participated in every dance. She skipped, danced, rolled, spun around, and did all sorts or ballet moves. She was wonderful! I'm very proud of her. She's come a long way (but she's still the tiniest kid in the class).

A big thank you goes out to Lisa, Sherri (Bubbles) and to Stella's teacher, Storm.