An Evening Out For The Little One

Last night we took our daughter to see the Sesame Street Live production of "Elmo Makes Music." While not quite up to the normal standard of Sesame Street in my opinion, the kiddo enjoyed it a lot and I definitely would rank it above most of the other ridiculous stuff out there aimed at kids.

I definitely enjoyed that they had a whole "play zone" set up out in the lobby for the kids to explore beforehand (sprinkled liberally with merchandise booths, of course). There were lots of activities and people in character costumes mingling with the kids.

Baby Girl, as I said, had a really good time. She was blown away with all of the fun stuff to look at in the lobby and very much enjoyed that Big Bird did the curtain calls, trying to find him after each announcement. The set itself was absolutely marvelous, and once the show started, Baby Girl was saying hi to all of the familiar faces and singing along and dancing to the music. She did get a little frustrated when she couldn't get Abby's attention (she got an Abby doll for Valentine's Day and it is her constant companion--they have lengthy (one-sided) conversations and Abby has to sit at the table at most meals), but Hubby told her she could at least wave at Abby, and she seemed satisfied with that.

All in all, it was most definitely an evening well spent.

Ooh, a picture of broccoli!

I approve of this play zone offering.

Murray, on the scene to say hello.

I really dug the Elmo's World setup.

They even had Dorothy!

Chatting with Elmo.

Bert and Ernie make the pre-show rounds.

Just look at that face.

Zoe was out there too, of course.

I tried to get a picture in front of the Abby poster, but she was pretty distracted by everything going on around her!

A pretty cool stage setup.

Mom, I'm eating. Please, just put the camera down, okay?

The show gets underway, let the singing and dancing begin!

Seriously, another photo?

This guy walked out right as the lights went up for intermission. Smart, smart man.

We made it out without too much invested in souvenirs: a new Abby t-shirt and an Elmo balloon (of course). We also tried to treat the kiddo to some cotton candy, but she had no desire to eat it at all. Oh well, more for Mommy and Daddy.

I don't know how many of these for-kids performances like this I will be able to weather throughout my parenting career, but I will definitely give any of the Sesame Street offerings a try as long as Baby Girl is interested.