Edmund Lets Loose and Dances with a Goose

Edmund Shakes His Vegetable

Edmund is so into music these days that I've been looking for an appropriate children's concert or music event to take him to. Edmund went to the benefit concert at my school a couple of months ago and loved it, but it was in an open air theater with tons of space to move around. Now that the weather is getting nippy, the concerts around the area tend to be indoors. I can't say I blame the musicians one bit, but there's always the chance for chaos when you put a bunch of toddlers in a room. I was delighted when I read about a children's musical act taking place in downtown Durham at The Broad Street Cafe, but didn't know what to expect.

Every 1st and 3rd Sunday from October through March The Broad Street Cafe offers kid's shows. Some of the acts are more appropriate for older elementary and teens, but this past week's act was for the young preschool set. We went to see an interactive performance by Mother Goose herself. And at 163 years old can you believe she was up dancing and shaking with the best of them?

Mother Goose performed with her guest Sir Anthony (a guitar playing pageboy) and was accompanied by her dear pet goose, Gwennyblossom. I won't spoil the fun for the children, but I'll let the adults in on a little secret. Mother Goose is actually a woman named Dr. Laura Royster who developed a preschool curriculum entitled "I Feel Better with Music" for children with cancer. The night's show was based on the curriculum. It takes a lot to impress me when it comes to curriculums for young children, but this one certainly did.

Mother Goose started out the evening by asking if any children would like to help her strum her guitar. As the children strummed we welcomed them in a "hello" song. As you may well know, Edmund loves his guitar, but he wasn't quite sure about Mother Goose yet. Fortunately, right before she closed the "hello" song Edmund mustered up the courage to strum. Can you believe he got to strum his first full-size guitar?

The Broad Street Cafe is like any cafe and had limited seating. However, Mother Goose came prepared with her very own "fairy blanket." This gave the children a nice, soft (and clean) place to sit, as well as gave the show a more intimate feel. The songs were perfect for preschoolers, short and catchy. Often children's musicians will write long songs that will lose a two year old's interest in the blink of an eye. These songs were a little longer than a blink, but were interactive enough to keep the children engaged. The children helped Mother Goose correctly complete the rhyme "Humpty Dumpty," as after 163 years one can get a bit forgetful. The children also used vegetable shaped shakers while singing and dancing to a song called "Vegetables Dancing on the Table." Edmund had a blast with this one.

Between songs Mother Goose would return to the stage to read bits from her book. During one reading she asked Edmund to care for Gwennyblossom. I wanted to warn her that perhaps another child would be better suited for the job. Edmund quickly fell in love with Gwennyblossom and kissed and hugged her repeatedly. He got a little too excited about Gwennyblossom's beak and needed a few reminders to simply pat her on the head, but all in all he did his job well.

For her final act, Mother Goose passed out Bubble Bears for the parents to blow bubbles. Edmund squealed uncontrollably as the bubbles bounced around him. In case you didn't know, when Edmund gets excited, he really gets excited. He danced and laughed while Mother Goose finished her song. When Mother Goose concluded her "set list," Sir Anthony passed around a tip jar. We gave Edmund a few dollars to contribute because we all had such a great time. Edmund took the money, looked into the bucket, clutched his three dollars in his right hand, and went to grab the money in the bucket with his left. Sir Anthony cracked up at my son's antics. It appears we have a little way to go on the "we don't take money from other people front." But hey, he's only two.

The evening was a success. At a little under an hour, Mother Goose lasted the perfect amount of time to hold a two year old's attention. It didn't hurt that we were able to order some delicious wood-fired pizza. It really is a testament to what a great time Edmund was having, that he didn't ask for pizza until 10 minutes before the show finished. For a boy who would eat pizza for every meal, that really is saying something.

The Broad Street Cafe
1116 Broad Street Durham, NC 27705

Kid's Events:
1st and 3rd Sundays of October-March
4:30 unless otherwise noted
*see website for acts

Trick-or-Treat

Enjoying the Night's Bounty

In Edmund's class this past week there was nonstop chatter about Halloween. This would be unnoteworthy in any elementary school class, but was rather comical given the fact that these particular children can barely remember what they had for dinner last night, let alone last Halloween. Last October 31st most of the kids were having their first bites of non-pureed food, so the chances are slim that any of them tasted candy then. If they did, their parents aren't fessing up. However, most of these kids have now tasted the sweet stuff and know what they were missing. Can it really be? There's a night when people hand out candy without mommies and daddies saying "eat your veggies first?" These kids were sold, and Edmund was no exception.

Last year Edmund donned his adorable pirate costume and I thought there was no way we were going to top it this year. Edmund's recent visits to the Museum of Life and Science had him in awe of space and he went around telling everyone he was going to be an astronaut for Halloween (not that he knew what Halloween was). Surprisingly astronaut costumes are hard to come by or really expensive. I know I could have made one, but as crazy as work has been that would have been one more stressor. So after talking to several friends with children Edmund's age, I concluded it was fine to go a little crazy with this year's costume. He's only two once. The years of cheap Darth Vader costumes aren't that far off, so I decided to splurge on a space suit with a little help from Kay Kay.

About a week ago, Edmund was invited to a pumpkin hunt at his friend Logan's. This was the perfect place to do a test run with the costume. We had to coax Edmund into it with the promise of candy at the party. He wasn't completely sold, but it's amazing what a two year old will do for chocolate. After a few minutes at the party he threw off the astronaut hat and wandered around in only the suit. I was in for a shock the following Friday when we attended a jack-o-lantern festival in Fearrington Village. Not only did Edmund willingly put on the costume, but refused to take off the hat. Steven was afraid the hat was obstructing Edmund's view, but Edmund didn't care. He was the cutest astronaut ever and he knew the hat completed his look. That night Edmund also got his first taste of trick-or-treating. We walked into a store and prompted Edmund to say trick-or-treat. Edmund complied and was able to take one Tootsie Roll. We asked him "what do you say?" Edmund's response? "Open it." "Thank you" was the answer we were looking for. After that Edmund wanted to go to more stores. He liked this candy thing. After one more store we called it a night. That was enough practice for the time being.

Finally, the big night rolled around. Edmund had been invited to go trick-or-treating with the kids in the neighborhood. We thought about it, but decided they were setting out too far past bedtime. Not only that, but Edmund is about 2 years younger than the next youngest child. The neighborhood kids love Edmund, but we think it's because they've figured out how to get him to do their bidding. "Ah man our Frisbee went all the way over there." "Hey Edmund do you want to play Frisbee with us?" Edmund happily runs after the Frisbee none the wiser.

As we approached the first house on our trick or treating route, Edmund couldn't contain his excitement. He eagerly rand the doorbell and said his "trick-or-treats" and even "thank yous" right on cue. However, he thought we were supposed to mosey on into each house. It took a couple of houses before he realized we weren't going in for a play date.

All was going well until we came to a house with a giant inflatable spider and Frankenstein's monster. Both were cutesy, but Edmund ran and clutched his mommy. Edmund had seen both decorations at Lowes earlier in the month and with fascinated curiosity asked, "What's that mommy, what's that?" I gave him a quick answer and he stood before the creatures dancing his silly dance. Seeing them at Lowes is one thing, but I suppose seeing them in the dark on the neighbor's lawn is quite another. Our neighbors thought Edmund was adorable, but Edmund kept saying "I go home now." We convinced Edmund to stay and take his treat. Edmund should be happy he stayed for he got his favorite treat of the evening. They had stuffed animals for the younger set. Edmund got a cute pug that barks when you push its tummy. He didn't let go of it all night. After the spider house, we had to convince Edmund to keep going. It didn't help that the neighbor kids had now congregated next door. They were all dressed as Star Wars characters. Edmund was a little wary, and the kids were so sweet as to show Edmund how they looked without their masks.

We continued on. Although now mommy was responsible for carrying Edmund to each house lest any spiders jump out at him. He also had daddy carry his pumpkin basket so he could ring the doorbell, then would quickly take it back in time to retrieve his loot. This slowed us down a bit and the neighborhood kids nearly made it around the entire cul-de-sac before we got home. We raced home to greet them for their "trick-or-treats', then hit up two more houses. By the last house, Edmund was a pro at this candy thing. The lady attempted to give Edmund a red lollipop. Edmund took one look at it and declared "green" as he reached in the bowl. He's had one lollipop in his life and already he has preferences. When we got home we allowed Edmund one lollipop. The lollipop kept him still enough for some pictures. We told Edmund he could have one more treat before bed. He chose pretzels the bag of pretzels he got across the street. The kid is making good choices already. It's been two days since Halloween night. Edmund seems to have forgotten about the candy, but his mommy and daddy haven't.

Go, Heels Go!

Edmund and Rameses

This past Saturday, Edmund attended his first UNC football game. Grandma and Grandpa were so kind to invite us to the game against William and Mary. Several days prior to the game we prepped Edmund by telling him we were going to see Carolina play football. From then on every time we got in the car to go somewhere Edmund was convinced we were headed to a football game. All this anticipation meant that he could not contain his excitement when the moment actually arrived.

Football is not my game. I enjoy being surrounded by fans and get caught up in the excitement, but I simply don't get football. Basketball I understand. It's a fast paced game with clear, simple rules. Football is a bunch of guys running and falling, followed by what seems like an eternity of stop in play. I probably could learn the game if my heart was in it, but it seems my brain has put up a shield preventing me from learning even the most basic rules of the game. This was evident when I pointed out the goal to Edmund and said "see that? If Carolina kicks the ball through that they get a touchdown." Steven heard this and quickly corrected me, "Um they get a touchdown if they run the ball over the line over there." My mistake.

As a parent you start seeing everyday things differently. When the fans started cheering at the first tackle, I couldn't help but wonder what Edmund was thinking. As a parent and teacher of young children I spend a good portion of my day saying how unkind it is to jump on people. And now people were cheering and clapping uncontrollably as several big guys piled on top of one another. Edmund hasn't tried to make a tackle since the game, so for now I think we're safe. Edmund enjoyed himself immensely throughout the first quarter. After that he was all done. "I go home now, ok." We had to get creative in order to keep Edmund interested enough to stay the entire game. Earlier we had seen the Rameses mascot walking around. Edmund said "Rameses, I give him hug and kiss." So during the second quarter when Rameses approached our section I decided to take Edmund to greet him, as a distraction. I wasn't sure Edmund would be quite as enthused when he came face to face with the giant mascot. I was wrong. Edmund immediately threw his arms around the big ram and gave him a small kiss on the cheek. We got quite the keepsake picture to capture the moment.

During half-time we got a hot dog and some popcorn. That most certainly kept Edmund entertained. He also loved watching the instruments during the marching band's show. He is becoming quite the musician and now relishes in any live music.

Half-time concluded and it was back to the game. Edmund was getting a bit antsy. He asked grandma to take him on several walks up and down the stairs. When he returned, he started to get into the cheers. Edmund loved the opportunity to scream without anyone telling him not to, and as he has quite the pair of lungs on him, made quite the contribution. I may not know football, but I knew well enough to know the Heels weren't doing all that well in the second half. Steven's earlier reminder of how the game works was a good thing because I was able to cheer extra loud as the team made their way down the field for a touchdown. By this time Edmund had caught onto the chant "Go Heels Go" and said it so sweetly that the spectators around us couldn't help but smile.

When Carolina scored the touchdown, a round of fireworks was set off into the early evening sky. To everyone's great surprise, Edmund, who normally shies away from loud noises, simply looked at us and said "I see fireworks." This was a good test. Maybe he'll be ready for his first big fireworks display by next 4th of July. The touchdown and the plays that followed were enough to put Carolina in the lead. All they had to do was keep William and Mary from scoring. With our football team's track record, this was easier said than done. What do you know? They actually played great defense and earned themselves a win.

When we met up for pizza with Aunt Alison after the game everyone talked about how proud Edmund's Granddad would be that Edmund saw his first football game. Tar Heel football made quite an impression on young Edmund. Today while all the other kids were relaying tales of Halloween night, Edmund was running around the playground shouting "I got a football, Joshua. Go, Heels, Go!" Edmund has the most infectious excitement, so by the end of outside time more than half the class were playing imaginary football and shouting "Go, Heels, Go!" Only time will tell whether Edmund will be a basketball or football fanatic, but we all know where Granddad stands.

*Don't worry. A Halloween post will be coming your way by the end of the week.