Friday Night Live

Last night Lilah and I drove downtown to Friday Night Live at the DIA. They have live music, workshops, drawing in the galleries, and wandering the museum by night. It's one of my favorite things. The lighting is different, the vibe is different, you skip out on loud school groups. It's generally a great time.

I was feeling unusually confident, having driven us there and parked without getting lost. Not to mention, I was wearing a wine-colored silk dress I barely wear and I felt like I looked good in it. Lilah was stylish in a burgundy tunic and leggings with her brown suede boots. For whatever reason, the parking lot guy didn't make us pay for parking, so that was cool. We got into the museum and Lilah transformed into an angel. I checked my coat.
"Where's she taking your coat?"
"She's hanging it up for me."
"That's so nice. Thank you!" Of course, the woman was charmed. We made our way to the drop in workshop. The man at the table by the door explained the process - take a carton with a sugar skull in it. Take some beads and sequins. "Glue" them on with icing. Do not eat the finished product. Lilah and I grabbed a stool. She took a few fists full of beads and sequins and set to work on her "sugar 'kull". It ended up with blue hair, a green butterfly for a nose, white bead eyes stuck on with pink icing. and a mouth full of bright yellow teeth. Lilah ate a bit of frosting, and I had to extract a bead from her mouth when she decided to sample one. We went to wash her hands when she was finished, and a volunteer came to admire her work.
"Very pretty skull! And you!" He turned to me. "That dress is lovely!" My happy-meter rose a few notches. We left the workshop and I asked her what she wanted to see. "We could see paintings, or the Egyptian gods - Ra, Horus, Anubis. We can see statues or sculptures..."
"I want to see Ra!"
"Okay. Let's go."

We walked past the bronze donkey and Lilah had to stop to pat him. Two other little girls were doing the same while there parents watched on. Lilah was shaking her sugar skull to death in its carton, as were the other girls. Their parents laughed.
"We offered to carry theirs, but..." The dad shrugged.
"Same here."
"Your dress is really exceptionally beautiful. I love it." I was really surprised.
"Um, thank you!" We continued on toward the Egypt Exhibit. We passed glass cases with statues. There was an ebony colored figure holding a small head in its hand. Lilah stopped short.
"Mama, what's he doing?"
"Tell me what you see." I've always said that to Lilah to get her to use her brain and her thinking skills.
"It looks like an animal. Or a little boy with an animal in his pocket." Okay then. We kept walking. She almost ran headlong into a guide.
"Well hey there! Aren't you adorable! And your mommy's dress is awesome!" What was with people? "Are you ladies looking for anything in particular?"
"Just wandering."
Lilah beamed and pointed down a corridor. "Can you take me to Ra?" He looked confusedly at me.
"The sun god. She wants to see the Egypt exhibit." He laughed and held out his hand. She took it and he led her to the exhibit and showed her around.
"This is a mummy. There's a person in there." She pressed her nose to the glass.
"Say hi to him, Lilah."
"Actually, it's a girl. They think she's from around 30BC."
"Is she okay in there?"
"She died, and they wrapped her up and put her in there to keep her safe."
"Aww, poor little thing." And she kissed the glass. We saw the whole area and moved on to the Islamic and Asian exhibits. They have a lot of beautiful pottery there.
"What do you see, Lilah?"
"A bowl of soup. And a guy. He's sleeping. Are you okay, little boy?" It was a statue of what looked like a monk in lotus, praying.

She ran into the African exhibit, where they had drawing areas set up. "I want to color!" She tried hard to climb up onto the seat and grab the paper. A woman came over and told us the project was for ages 5 and up, so we moved on.
We ended up in the gallery with one of my favorite paintings, The Nut Gatherers. "What are the little girls doing, Mama? Where are their shoes? Did they lost them? Do they need sockies? Yeah? What is she giving her?"
"Nuts."
"Yeah, nuts. What's that little girl doing?" Next to that painting is one of a little blonde girl in a pink dress in her mother's lap. "Is her mama holding her baby? Is she happy? Is she wearing clothes?" I pointed out a case of busts. Two were babies and one was a woman with barely discernible facial features. Lilah didn't care for the woman, but stared at the two babies. "Is he hungry? Does he want some milk?" The one baby's mouth was open.
She followed her ears to the Diego Rivera court where there was live music. "What are they playing, Mama? Songs? Guitar? Piano? Put me down." She wriggled out of my arms and dashed to about 5 feet from the stage before I could grab her and proceeded to do her Lilah-dance. I was afraid the people around would be bothered. The musicians giggled and the listeners thought she was wonderful. She raced out into the next area where they had tables and a screen set up for those who couldn't fit in the Rivera Court. She went table to table waving and dancing for people and showing them her sugar skull.

We made our way back to the coat check and she accidentally bumped into a lady. "Oh, excuse me!" I was so proud of her manners.
"Well aren't you beautiful! And tell your mother her dress is amazing." Not two seconds later, a group of men my age were passing us and one turned around to call back.
"I really like your cheongsam! That's a great color." And kept on walking. We got my coat, Lilah handing our number to the lady and thanking her for its safe return. We made it out to the car, both happy and full of love after our mama-daughter date to the DIA. I wasn't sure what in the world had gotten into people, but I had never received so many compliments from strangers. Lilah was constantly admired by people for her good manners and cheerful demeanor. It was easily one of the best outings we've been on.