DisabledMama

  I knew this morning when I woke up that I would either have a happy story or a hilarious story to tell here.  I knew this because it was either going to go really, really good or really, really, really bad.  I was going to do something with Kennedy that I had DREAMED about doing since I found out I was pregnant.  Heck, I’d probably dreamed about doing this since before I even knew I wanted a Kennedy.

  I was taking Kennedy to the Theater.

  A little background (in case you didn’t know), I was a theater nerd in high school.  I was on the State Student Thespian Board, one of five in the whole state.  Not to mention SO OVERLY INVOLVED in my high school theater department that I ended up with a scholarship from them.  I then went on the MAJOR in theater in college.  My Mom never looked at me and asked what I was going to do with this, she assumed I’d figure it out.  And I did. I taught middle school drama.  I loved every moment of it (well most… filling out report cards was not my favorite activity).

  So, taking Kennedy to the theater at an early age was something I’d always planned on doing.  That being said, I also knew that I had to wait until she had the attention span to make it through at least a 45 minute show.  I wasn’t sure what I’d do if I had to leave mid-show to deal with my wailing kid. How would I get all of our stuff out? How would I get Kennedy out mid-hysteria? I’ve stopped bringing my carrier with me because my kid is strong now and I don’t think I could pick her up and put her in it if she’s in the middle of a full out tantrum.  Finally, I just decided that we’d see what happened.

  All of this to say I knew I was going to have something to blog about today.

  We headed to the Puppet Center for the 11:30 show and got there to see a full sized Big Bird in the atrium (the Center has a Jim Henson exhibit right now).  And she wanted absolutely NOTHING to do with that bird.  She didn’t want to look at it or even get close to it.  She made a wide arc around the atrium just to ensure she wasn’t in his reach should he choose to go after her.  We walked around the museum looking at the different puppets before we got ushered in (early thanks to my cool one-leggedness) and Kennedy… became transfixed.

  She wanted to know about every aspect of the theater.  Thanks to my four years of study I was able to tell her all about it… I was able to describe the proscenium, the scrim that was used, how the lights worked. We talked about the stage manager, the light booth and how there were puppeteers behind the set.  And then the show started (we saw Rudolph).  And she watched it. I will say my teacher/theater heart broke just a little when I had to break a major theater etiquette rule and let her eat her snack.  But, in my defense it kept her from crawling over the seats in front of us to join the show.  At one point she looks back at me and asks where Bumble the Snowman went and I told her he just went off stage…She starts to walk out to the aisle telling me she’ll go get him.  

  I have no doubt that she wouldn’t have either.

Post show happiness.

PS- Our only meltdown of the day happened in the parking lot on our way to get back in the car. She saw the school bus and wanted to ride it. She wailed and cried, “When is it going to be my turn??!!” I tried really hard not to laugh.