PuppetArt

Today was our very first Drayton Avenue field trip. We were quite excited to visit PuppetArt, the Detroit Puppet Theater. We'd never been there, but had heard great things. We were to see Kolobok, the Russian folk story similar to the Gingerbread Boy. Kolobok is a little butterball dumpling crafted by Grandmother and Grandfather who have a good life, but have no children. While he's cooling on the sill, he escapes into the woods to see the world.  He encounters multiple animals who try to eat him but cunningly escapes them all. In the original story, he is eventually consumed by the crafty fox. In the Detroit version, he gets away and goes back home.

Lilah's friend Jack and his mother kindly let us ride along with them. Jack is a sweetheart and the two chattered happily in the back. We got there with 45 minutes to spare. By the time we found parking downtown, we had 30 minutes. By the time Jack and Lilah made it up 3 flights of stairs to Grand River Avenue, we had 15 minutes. We got into the theater and were engulfed in a sea of tiny people in winter gear. Lilah Rose had chosen a summer sun dress with pink flowers, pink knit tights, and a white turtle neck as her ensemble with brown suede boots. She had rushed through breakfast and smiled winningly at me while I dried my hair to entice me to do her bidding. "Mother, will you put my hair in a braid?"

"Braided pigtails? A pony tail?" I knew exactly what she was after. I'd been giving her the "Katniss Everdeen braid" for the past week and she'd gotten loads of attention for the fancy, intricate style.

"Nooo Mamaaaa. One braid!" I had done what she wanted and as usual the results were stunning. I had a very pretty little girl. I try to make sure to tell her how nice she looks, whether in pajamas or a party dress. I looked around the theater to see most of the children were very nicely dressed as well. I greeted the mother of one of the sets of twins and told the girls how nice they looked in their sparkly boots. Their mom smiled and said one of them had them on the wrong feet, but they were dressed and that's what counted. Lilah stood out in the crowd not only because of her braid, but also because she had insisted on bringing the muff Nicola made for her. It was all the rage. Some children stood quietly with parents. Others sneakily tried to touch the model puppets. One little girl had come with another family since her mother couldn't make it. She stood alone in the middle of the room with a quivering lip and her hands knotted uneasily. I crouched down to talk to her.

"Are you okay, honey?" She looked so miserable and scared it broke my heart. "You look so pretty in your skirt and sweater." She looked down and backed away. I motioned for Lilah to come over to me (she'd been stalking the little boy she plans to marry). I whispered to her, "Peanut, she had to come all alone with friends because her mama couldn't make it. She looks pretty lonely. Maybe try to be extra nice to her or talk to her a little?" Lilah looked back to the little boy with longing, then sighed and greeted the little girl by hopping over to her until they were half an inch apart. The girl backed away. Lilah hopped closer and stuck her head in and said hello, looking exactly like an inquisitive little bird. She cracked half a smile and ran away. Lilah chased her. I'm not sure if the little one felt any better but she'd hopefully been distracted.

When we went into the theater, Lilah had asked to be carried. She was pretty overwhelmed by all the bodies (the 2, 3, and 4 year classes were all present with parents) and had also just come to the realization that "theater" hadn't meant "movie and popcorn" and was noisily digesting this deception. Lilah and Jack asked to sit in the first row of child chairs with their respective mothers behind them in adult chairs. The kids around them rocked their chairs, stood up and sat down, and occasionally made some noise. Those two were angels. The commented and asked questions and shrieked with delight, but they were really good. It was funny to see the little ones compared to some in the older class. When the lights flickered and the sounds of birds and wind played from the speakers, Jack looked to the ceiling for the birds and Lilah was looking for squirrels in the (very obviously fabric) forest. The older kids shushed them. "It's a CD!"

During the bit of the performance where the Grandmother was kneading flour and butter to make Kolobok, Lilah gasped dramatically, stood, and exclaimed, "Mother! She's making bagels!" The entire theater chuckled. When they pulled the little Kolobok from the oven, he really did resemble a big bagel. Nothing could convince Lilah he wasn't one. Even though the kids grew restless after the first 25 minutes of the performance, it was engaging and animated enough to grab them again. I would definitely take her back there. We came home and had a nice lunch while she recounted her morning to her dad.

 In the afternoon, I walked into pure insanity at work and 2 inches of paperwork on my desk and audibly groaned. For a moment, I wished I had just come to work in the morning. Then one of my coworkers came to my desk to ask how the field trip went. I gave her a quick synopsis and she was happy but looked momentarily pained. She told me that she told her son's school in the very beginning that she has a full-time job and was unable to attend functions and regrets it now. "Work doesn't matter. Go to everything you can. I was the asshole and I regret it. Don't be like me." I smiled to myself. Not only did work happily grant me the morning off, but they gave me paid time off to attend. I could bravely face however many inches of paperwork and whatever crises awaited. My little bird and I had a lovely time at Kolobok. We might just go back for Anansi.