I really like the symphony and opera, the last much to B's chagrin. He hates opera: I dragged him to
The Marriage of Figaro most recently--which is a really good one!--and he suffered so much that I took pity and we left after Act 3. (I had the flu and was therefore not enjoying myself: in general I am pretty at ease with inflicting my tastes on B.) He does like the symphony (especially Beethoven) so that's something we enjoy together.
Naturally I want R to like classical music too and am thus starting her indoctrination/enrichment (depending on how you look at it) early. She attended multiple concerts in utero (which seemed to agree with her, I felt her move for the first time during
Madame Butterfly). She's been to several music performances already (
in Bali), but last week she went to the symphony for the first time.
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Bad photo, but the only one I have. Too bad because R's dress was really cute.
Note to self: work on learning to style hair. |
It was a special children's performance, so they performed a range of "popular" stuff (like the theme music from Titanic and James Bond) along with more traditional pieces, and had a lot of audience participation (the older children were allowed to come on the stage at the end, and a few lucky ones even got to conduct the orchestra briefly).
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| We weren't allowed to take photos during the concert, so this is before it started. |
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| The concert hall is quite nice. |
I wasn't sure what R would make of it (because honestly sitting quietly for an hour and listening to string instruments is not everyone's cup of tea), but in fact she was totally enthralled and sat on my lap for the entire performance without making a peep. Given her usual activity level (high, to the point that her preschool teacher called her a "dynamo"), this is quite a compliment!
Since then she's been remembering the concert regularly and has talked about it unprompted multiple times (she brings over the program and points out the photos of the musicians and conductor to me, babbling and making gestures like clapping and pretending to conduct). She even brought it up when we were skyping with my parents (I had forgotten to mention it, but R didn't!).
It is so fun exposing my child to the things I enjoy, and getting to experience them with her: possibly my favorite part of parenting!
I also love exposing P to the things I love! It makes me so excited when he picks up a camera. And my dad loves to take him out into the field and teach him about tractors and onions and potatoes. I hope he also enjoys time in the kitchen like I do (partially because I like it, and partially because it bothers me that so many men don't know how to cook because of defined gender roles in the US).
ReplyDeleteB likes cooking, and wants R to like it also. She's too young right now (except to "help" by fetching him pots and to explore food by playing with the produce, which she does like) but I hope it's something they will enjoy together once she's bigger. I think that's one reason older kids are more fun (at least for me), because the possibilities to do stuff together are larger.
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