Dec. 10 (Nutcracker again)

I am so pleased to have such great pictures from the last few days to share with you. Because I want to be able to get all the pictures and posts up tonight, my words will be few (most of you are probably saying, "Thank the good Lord for that!"). But I do have to say that on Thursday, Dec. 10, Emma and I had a day together that I will never forget.

Thanks to the work of one of the moms in my MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) group at church, Emma and I were able (along with other moms in our group) to go to Pacific Northwest Ballet's Nutcracker. Our seats were great, our ticket prices were AMAZING and if it were not for this unique opportunity to score great seats at great ticket prices, James and I would not have chosen to take Emma to the ballet this year. When I heard about the opportunity to go, I asked James what he thought about me getting tickets for us and he said, "Why not?" The ticket prices were so wonderful that if we had to leave halfway through because she just wasn't handling the long show very well, we both agreed that it would still be worth it to bring her even for a little bit.

I'm proud to say that the little girl, not even yet two years old, did a fantastic job at her first ballet. My goodness gracious, if she grows up a dancer, she'll get to tell people she saw her first professional ballet before she was two. And like I said in my first post about this special day, her face as she watched the dancers was priceless. The picture above is of Emma during intermission, when we took a little break from our seats and ran around a little bit. And when I say "ran," I really do mean it. She took off in the crowds without even looking back for me or for Auntie Sara!

Here's my little ballerina in her seat at McCaw Hall. We picked up a few cushion bumper seats for her be able to sit a little higher up. She rotated between sitting on her bum, to sitting on her knees, to standing (oops), to my lap and then to Auntie Sara's lap (where she actually spent a good portion of the show!). She sat leaning on me during the whole battle scene with the Mouse King ... and of course LOVED the soldiers on the "horses." If you've never seen PNB's Nutcracker, you're missing out -- every scene is beautiful, but the first half is gorgeous with the growing Christmas tree (Emma liked that too), the snow, the party guests ... ahhh. I've seen it 15 times now but I could watch it over and over and over and never be tired of it.

Aw, man. That face. I took this picture out in the lobby after the whole show was over. I was so proud of how well she did. She got a little fidgety toward middle of the second act but never called out (she always whispered so politely) or got annoyed or fussy or anything. I'm grateful for Sara's help -- I think it helped Emma to have two people to bounce between and of course Sara is great at encouraging Emma to look at different things, "Look at the peacock! Do you see a peacock?"

As a photographer, I am SO happy that Emma will happily pose for me when I ask her to do so. Granted, I am aware that at some point, this willingness to say, "Cheese!" may go away. For now, I'm soaking it up. We told her to stand in this little house and she cheesed it up so perfectly.

And then I got to step in one frame. :) Emma kept pointing at me and then at the inside of the little house so I squeezed my big pregnant body in as far as I could. Emma thought that was great.

Okay, so here ... she just noticed the huge lifelike statue of Drosselmeier and she did not like it. She stared at it and stared at it, watching other kids take their pictures next to it. I didn't think she'd be up for standing next to him for a picture and I was right. She was also really scared of the Mouse King statues and the Nutcracker statues. She wouldn't even walk by them without either Sara or me holding her. There were tears, yes. :(

Sara was SO KIND to take a quick lesson on how to shoot with my camera and so patient in getting pictures for Emma and me. I know not many people would be so encouraging and willing to take frame after frame to ensure that we got the pictures we hoped for, and that's why this girl is one of my b-fries (a term Sara coined to mean best friend). Thank you, Auntie Sara!

Goodness, my pants look so wide-legged and baggy ... but I only have a few nice pieces of maternity clothes to wear so beggars can't be choosers. Plus, who cares about that when my daughter looks so darned cute kicking her leg up, flinging out her arms and saying, "Ta-da!" I know you can't tell that she's saying that, but she was.

All in all ... I'm saving the tickets and the program from her first Nutcracker, of course. I still have my programs and tickets from the first year my dad took me (which was 1987 or 1988, I think). I hope this can be a tradition we share each year -- as long as she loves it like I did, anyway. I still can't believe we got to do this this year. What a wonderful day.