Today my daughter and I took my youngest grandson to see The Nutcracker at the Touhill Performing Arts Center. Three-year-old Jonah has been taking dance for six months, and enjoys listening to music, singing, and watching dance shows. Since I'm all for cultivating the boys's healthy interests, I decided we should expose Jonah to a live production.
In preparation, I bought The Story of the Nutcracker Ballet, suitable for children three to seven, and have been reading it to Jonah for the past two weeks. To my delight, after reading the book just once, Jonah began requesting it before every nap time. And, with each reading, he asked more questions and pointed out different details in the illustrations.
Our outing started with lunch at La Bonne Bouchee where we were surprised to see Santa. I picked the restaurant but had no idea they had hired a Santa to hang out all weekend. And he was a realistic-looking Santa who was extremely good with children. Lunch was a delight!Next we drove to Touhill while Jonah fought sleeping in the car for a short nap. Unfortunately, he didn't sleep well last night, spending too much time talking with his stuffed animals, which is becoming a real problem. Things weren't looking good.
Nevertheless, we did make it through the first half without too much trouble. Jonah had a lot of questions, but at least we then knew he was watching and interested. It was after intermission when Jonah completely feel apart and we ended up leaving half way through the second half.
Sitting through an entire ballet was probably too much to ask of a three-year-old, but I'm glad we tried. I do think it was an experience Jonah will remember.
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