Sesame Street Live

We took Jackson to see Elmo Makes Music at the Murat Centre on Saturday. It was his "big" 2 year birthday present from Chris and I. And by "big", I mean "expensive". Before we actually thought about what we were doing, Chris had ordered 3 "best available" tickets and we were on the hook for well over a "Benjamin" thanks to the ticket handling charges, etc.

But I digress.

When Chris ordered the tickets, we realized that we were in the 4th row, which didn't give us any pause - at first. Then we thought about Jackson and how a 2 year old might be easily scared and traumatized by a stage full of giant 8-foot singing, dancing, monsters just a few feet away. Plus, in trying to build up the show for Jackson in the days leading up to it, Jackson just kept saying "no Elmo" every time we asked him if he wanted to go meet Elmo in person. So, by the time Saturday rolled around, I just figured that we had blown the money and we would have to chalk it up to a poor first-time parent decision.

Much to my surprise, however, Jackson was really excited when we got to the theater and stayed that way pretty much through the whole thing. He got scared momentarily (no screaming, just pulled his knees to his chest and watched from the sides of his eyes) when the lights first went down and the music started and all the characters came out on stage, but it quickly passed. By about 5 minutes in, he was movin' and grovin' and singin' and wavin' and clappin' with the best of 'em. They did an ABC number that Jackson really liked and when it was over he kept holding up his index finger and shouting "one more time". But it was all for naught - Elmo didn't listen. Then again, he probably couldn't hear anything through his giant, ear-less foam head anyway (which makes me wonder how he could "make music" anyway). In the end, I think Jackson had a good time and we got away with buying him only one souvenir - a spinning, light-up Elmo thing-a-ma-bob that cost $15 and will inevitably break in a matter of days. But, even though he will probably never remember the show, you are only 2 once.