It’s showtime!
We went to a puppet show at the library yesterday so Noah put on several shows for me this morning. We have a nice, homemade cardboard puppet theater that we trashpicked and he used his beanies ‘cuz we have no puppets. I sat in the little easy chair drinking coffee and being entertained by his stuffed animals’ antics; it made for a lovely morning.
In between each story segment, Noah’s animals sang little songs. I watched them dancing on top of the wall, Noah’s little head peeking up over the edge and remembered back to when I used to put on similar shows.
Sometimes when his only audience is himself, Noah makes his animals and characters “sing” to showtune CDs. It’s like lip-syncing only they have no lips. I did this, too, only I used Ray Coniff long playing records. Smokey the Bear (whom I thought quite dashing) sang the male lead and Raggedy Ann was the female lead. It was all very romantic, especially when they sang the duet, “Christmas Bride.” I got very caught up in it.
Noah’s animals are equally talented whether he’s doing the singing or letting the stereo do it for him. I know that when he loses himself in their performance that it’s very real to him. He shakes their little heads and kicks their little feet, stumbling along in his made-up song that warbles high and rumbles low. He makes almost-rhymes (like matching “high” with “fight”) forgetting to finish until he runs out of melody or lyrics or both. I clap, he beams, and it’s on to the next show.
My dad doesn’t understand why I would quit my job if we could afford it but it’s for mornings like this one. I deliberately blew off work to spend 90 minutes watching my boy perform and it means I’ll miss his t-ball game tonight. If I had my way, I wouldn’t miss any of it — puppet shows, lego battles or t-ball games. At least I got this and I’m grateful; I know it’s more than lots of other parents get.
