No Business Like Show Business

Tonight we went out for our early family Christmas present. Since we value experiences over toys any day, we decided instead of giving Auds a bunch of stuff that she may not even ever play with, we would take her to the Sesame Street show. It was this month instead of next, but I doubt that matters to her. In keeping with the Sesame Street theme, I bought her a pair of Tickle Me Elmo hands at the beginning of the year for 50% the clearance price. I spent under $10 when they're normally closer to $30 or $40. That's pretty good in my book. She'll get these on Christmas day, so we have all of our bases covered. We have a rule to give one big thing and one little thing. Last year, her big thing was a Radian car seat and her small thing was a baby doll. For her birthday she got Hooked on Phonics and a stroller for her baby doll. This year is no different. I think it's a good balance.

My husband had never gone to anything like this when he was a kid. I did, but I went to the Disney ones. I remember those being some of my best memories, so I wanted to see how Auds would enjoy it. She absolutely LOVED meeting Elmo at Boo at the Zoo this year, so I had high hopes.

And boy, my hopes weren't dashed! She was so excited! She called them by name, she sang, she danced, she was so into the show. She was the star of our seating section. When the other kids weren't paying attention or whining or trying to run off, she was dancing and singing so much you would have thought she was in the show!

I didn't spring for the VIP tickets (it would have been an extra $100 for a meet and greet before the show when it cost us less than $10 to meet Elmo at the zoo), but I did spring for the floor tickets. Sixth row aisle, to be exact. And, if you're ever contemplating going, it's worth every penny. She got to actually see the show, not some one's head and not some teeny tiny people dancing. She got to stand in the aisle for the dancing parts (they encourage the kids to stand in front of their seats and participate), which meant she could still see the show and not the back of a seat or some one's bottom. And she got to meet the cast when they danced around.

It was a HUGE success and we're definitely going to do it (or something similar) next year!

With Daddy outside before going in.

I had to get one in too.

Waiting for the show to start. We got there early coz I thought it would be more busy than it was (it was the last performance of the show) so we had to wait a few minutes. They flew by though, and she was so good and didn't seem to mind.

She sat with me the entire time. And, no, my husband didn't tell me that I was wearing my sunglasses indoors in a dark auditorium. Nor did he tell me that I wore them outside into the dark of night. I really had no idea until I saw these pictures. And then I forgot again until I went to put some sweats on and knocked them off my head. Oops!

Here she was dancing the hula with Grover.

During intermission, Daddy ran off to get a special surprise. Auds was a little dismayed that all of the other kids around were getting the extremely overpriced show products and she didn't have anything. One little kid behind us got one of everything, and she sat there longingly looking at his goodies and talking about them. Balloons of Elmo's head were $10! But, Daddy came back with this treat. Auds LOVES hats. She wears them out when it's cold, she wears them in during dress up time. She'll run off before being dressed to go get a hat. So we knew she'd get a lot of wear out of it. And it was only $12 - win-win! He brought it back, her eyes grew big, and she didn't want to take it off. We had to pry it off of her so she could eat dinner and not get it messy.

Here she was dancing to "If You're Happy and You Know It" with Grouchetta. She was getting down. She actually got so excited here that she peed all over me! She's working on potty training herself (I encourage it, but am in no way pushing the issue) and she knows when she has to go, what it feels like, and can even hold it for long periods of time. Well, she held it all through the first half and intermission after she drank a whole big sippy.

When she got to dancing and grooving in the second half, she completely forgot to hold it in any more and soaked through her diaper. We rarely ever have issues with cloth, and LOVE them. But, as it would with a disposable, if there is a massive deluge instead of a bunch of small little ones, the diaper can't absorb it all immediately. And if there's movement that might let a little bit out... well then accidents happen. I wasn't about to make her miss the rest of the show so we could walk across the place, change a diaper, and walk back. She was enjoying herself too much.

She even realized it after she did it and after her dance partner strolled away, she turned around and said "Mamma, I pottied." I told her it was okay, not to worry that I'd take care of it. She smiled and went back to dancing. Sometimes a mom has to feel a little wet for the sake of her child's happiness.

We changed her in the back of the car while waiting for traffic to clear out and headed home. She wore her hat the entire time and told Dolly about all of the characters, the songs, the dancing and how much she loved it. Either she forgot that Dolly was there with her, or she just wanted to share her excitement with her best friend. I think it may have been a little bit of both.

So, moral of the story is, if you ever have the chance and means to go to one of these shows (or something similar), I say do it! The way I look at it, she got more enjoyment out of this than if we bought her $100 of toys that would get lost or broken. And when she's old enough to remember it for longer than a few days, she'll be able to look back on them fondly and remember how much fun it was.

I'll take an "I saw Elmo! I love it!" over "Mommy, it broke" any day.