For our tenth wedding anniversary, I gave Mr. Husband the best gift ever. I let him buy two tickets to Phantom of the Opera--one ticket for me and one ticket for Alexis. I know! I'm so nice! In all seriousness, not forcing him to go with me (again--we saw it when I was 135981235 months pregnant with Alexis) was quite the generous act. He hates the theater. A lot.
Alexis, however, loves it more than I do, which is saying an enormous amount. We're talking about a kid who sat mesmerized by Sleeping Beauty for three hours, despite the fact that it was a ballet and didn't have a single word the entire time. While I was trying to invent ways to commit violent crimes with just an M&M during the second act because ZOMG ZzzzzZZzzzzZZ, she sat there completely in love with everything about the show.
She's a little weird. In a good way.
The months between ticket acquisition and the actual show passed and I had helped build Alexis' anticipation to fever pitch. She was SO excited to get to go see Phantom, which is of course why she wound up being too sick to go. In honor of keeping the romance alive, I took a really, really pregnant friend to the show with me instead and left Mr. Husband home alone with a pukey kid.
I'm awesome. I know.
But then, of course, Alexis didn't entirely understand the whole "only in town for a limited time" thing and began asking when we were going to Phantom. Over and over. Daily. I must have wished on the right falling star because some I got lucky and a student version of the show was announced. The kid loves theater, but she hasn't yet figured out the difference between a Broadway-quality performance and a bunch of students. YAY!
Saturday night was finally the big night. As an extra-extra-extra-special treat, I granted permission for us to get all dolled up for our girls' night out, complete with straightening Alexis' hair and letting her wear my pearl necklace.
Words cannot even begin to describe how kerfluffled the kid was to get the Big Girl treatment.
When we finally arrived downtown and started to make our way into the theater, Alexis uttered the first of two phrases which I absolutely must document. MUST. She said, "Momma, I like hanging out with you."
All together now . . . awwwww! In ten years when she's telling me I'm stupid and don't understand and to get the heck out of her face, I'm totally bringing that moment back up again. Actually, I should probably just go ahead and cross stitch it on a pillow. By the time I'm actually done sewing, she'll hate me.
Speaking of hate, Alexis hated Phantom of the Opera. Really. She sat completely engrossed in every second of the show, but she HATED the plot line. I have been responding to questions like, "Why would Christine like the Phantom when he's so mean?" and "Why is the Phantom so mad?" and "Christine should have married Raoul and told the Phantom to go away." The kid really can't fathom why any girl would be even slightly tempted by a bad guy like the Phantom. It's a very black and white issue for her, so I expect to see a Team Raoul poster hanging in her bedroom any day now.
(Dear future Alexis, I really hope your opinion of "bad boys" never, ever changes. And if it does? You really should ask 4-year old you about how dumb it is to like a boy who is mean.)
As the show began to come to an end, Alexis sat in my lap, still deeply engrossed in every note and nuance. Occasionally she would whisper a question or comment in my ear . . . things about which song was her favorite and which ballerina was a good dancer and how the Phantom should put his hair back on. It was then that she uttered the words I have been expecting, the words I don't know what to do with, other than to support and cheer from the sidelines.
"Momma, when I get bigger, can I sing on the stage?"
And so it begins . . .
Tuesday, October 26, 2010