Nutcracker!

Just let it be said... a three-year-old can enjoy the Nutcracker ballet. I kept hearing Daisy was too young, and I was starting to worry--but then again, I also knew Daisy has a long attention span when she's interested in something and that she knows the Nutcracker inside and out. We have last year's SF Ballet production of it on videotape, she watches it all the time, and she knows the plot and music better than I do. In fact, she corrects me sometimes when I make a mistake. So I knew those factors were in our favor. And it went great today! We had orchestra seats, toward the back but in the middle--we had a good view. Daize was completely rapt through the first act, sitting on a booster pillow they gave out. She hid her head on my shoulder during the part where Fritz breaks the nutcracker. Months ago we had talked about how she could do that if she needed to, but I was surprised she remembered. They gave out free cookies and juice during intermission, and then we watched the second act. Daisy was most interested in her favorite dances--the Arabian dance, the Cossacks, the Polichinelles, and the dragon dance--but she was completely good the whole time, even when a less favored dance was on. Turns out it's good we chose the 2:00 matinee, despite the fact that it meant skipping her nap (or our attempt to give her a nap) that day--that's the family-geared performance and there were a lot of kids there, including kids Daisy's age and younger. They had a lot of cute stuff going on that was just for kids. Side note: she is sleeping right now with her reindeer doll (they gave them out at the door of the ballet) and her nutcracker. She is so sweet. Here are some pics.

I brought her fancy party dress to school and changed her in the Bunny Room. We also brought her nutcracker so he could watch the show with us.



We had lunch at Max's, a few blocks from the San Francisco Opera House.


Frolicking with Dada outside the opera house, before the show




Arriving at the ballet


There were soap-snowflakes blowing down from the roof for the kiddies to skip and dance in




Inside the opera house; some of the characters posed with the kids.


They gave out stuffed reindeer and nutcracker ornaments to all the kids


I couldn't take any pictures in the theatre, unfortunately. So, here we are after the show, walking back to our car. Daisy was tired but happy.





And just to make the point about how happy she was, despite being tired: here she is dancing in front a mirror while we wait for our car!