Going to a "Show"

Kellie and I bought tickets the Children's Theater Series this year. It is a series of 4 live performances that started this weekend and go through early May. The other three shows include The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Junie B. Jones, and The Dream Jam Band (Grace is going to love that one!)

I was excited to take Grace to the first show Stellaluna, based on the popular children's book by the same name. But I have been pretty sick this week and didn't feel up to it, so Kyle stepped in and joined the ladies for a morning at the theater. Since I told Grace on Friday night that she would be going with him, she kept saying, "Daddy show" non-stop. And when I asked her what show they were going to, her answer was, "Soccer show". Yeah, it makes sense that she would think that.

As the story goes, baby bat Stellaluna’s life is flitting along right on schedule until an owl attacks her mother one night, knocking the batlet out of her grasp. The tiny bat lands in a nest of baby birds and Stellaluna is accepted into their nest on the condition that she will act like a bird, not a bat. Soon Stellaluna has learned to behave like a good bird should – she quits hanging by her feet and starts eating bugs. Eventually, she has an opportunity to show her bird siblings what life as a bat is like.

As you can tell from that description, parts of this story are perfect for any child who is learning to be herself. But, there is a scary element to it when Stellaluna's mom is attacked, so I was a little unsure about how it would affect Grace.
From what Kellie and Kyle said about this performance, it was just "okay". The characters were puppetlike stuffed dolls and other than the owl, which was huge, you couldn't see the other animals' faces clearly from most of the seats in the theater. I am not sure how much Grace understood about the story, but my philosophy is to continue to expose her to as much as I can.

Not exactly the "exposure" I meant!

Anything she absorbs is welcome and she continually surprises me with what she learns and understands! Grace came home with some coloring sheets she got at the play and the was able to show me the bat when I asked her which one was Stellaluna. And, when I put her in for a nap I asked her who she saw at the show and she said, "Owl". So, I know she learned something today. But the best part is she seemed totally pumped to have some one-on-one time with Kyle.