Mary Poppins

    Yesterday, Molly and I took the train downtown to have lunch at the French Market and then went to see the musical "Mary Poppins" at the Cadillac Theater. We had a great time and both of us loved the musical. She has a great attention span being able to focus for almost a three hour show! During intermission, Molly asked the coat check girl how they made Mary Poppins fly. The woman told her it was magic, but Molly was having none of that. The woman looked at me and said, "She doesn't really want to know, does she? It will ruin it for her!" After we assured her that it was ok to give her the technical details, the woman laid it all out for her. It made the second half of the show even more interesting for her because she was able to watch for certain things (like the wire). She seemed fascinated by the creativity and technology that went into that part of the show. Her desire to ask questions and dig deeper than the surface is a trait that I see in her that I rarely see in kids in traditional school settings. There is no embarrassment, no shame, a thirst for knowledge, and most importantly the belief that everyone has something to teach us...not just the one person appointed with that role. I would not have thought to ask the coat check girl inside information about the show, but she knew so much! I am so glad that Molly realized that she was more than her job, because I didn't. So often I witnessed in my own childhood, as well as with the kids I have known since, that kids in school tend to want the learning to be over as soon as the school day ends. I never want Molly to see learning as a chore or as something to just endure. She has such a passion to absorb as much as she can about the world around us, and it brings me such pleasure to be able to share in that:)

    When we went to collect our belongings at the coat check after the show was over, Molly asked the woman why the room she was working in only had white walls. The woman looked stunned like she had never noticed or thought about it before. Molly decided that she should paint it pink with white stripes. Who knows maybe when we go back the next time we will see a fancy new coat check room:) We walked back to the train station and got there as the train was boarding...we were so happy to find out it was an express train! She wanted to get home to watch the movie of Mary Poppins so that she could compare the two versions while it was fresh in her head. I wasn't thrilled with her watching tv after watching a play for almost three hours, but she was dissecting it the whole way home...analyzing each character, comparing and contrasting every scene...I couldn't say "no" and I think it really helped her to get the most out of the experience.