Media Macaroni

This weekend, Olive and I had the chance to check out the charming off-Broadway show Dear Edwina, created by Marcy Heisler and Zina Goldrich, creators of Junie B. Jones The Musical.

This was Olive’s first live theater experience, unless you count the Big Apple Circus. At a running time of just over an hour, it seemed like a good bet for her 3-year-old attention span. For the first couple of numbers, she had the funniest perplexed look on her face as she watched. I know where she gets it from. I’m not typically a fan of musical theater. I’m constantly distracted, wondering why the characters would break into song. Exceptions to my dislike of musicals are Avenue Q, Jekyll and Hyde (seen on Broadway for the magical star power of one David Hasselhoff), Moulin Rouge, and Grease. OK… and Grease 2.

As I sat watching Dear Edwina, though, it came to me: musical theater is for kids. I tapped my foot and laughed along with the show and realized watching the show was like watching Yo Gabba Gabba with Olive, with dancing, catchy tunes with gentle moral lessons, and kid-friendly humor. 

The show is a little high-concept for kids. Edwina Spoonapple is a giver of advice in Paw Paw, Michigan, who is dying to go to an advice-givers event in nearby Kalamazoo. She puts on a show in her front yard, as letters are read and advice is dispensed in song. I was wondering if this was going over the little heads in the audience, but all of the giggles told me otherwise. The sweet spot for this show is older than three, to be sure. I’d put it at 7-9. In fact, I was wishing all throughout the show that I could take my 7-year-old niece, who would LOVE it. 

There are several songs that are sticking with me. Olive was tickled by Say No Thank You, a song that addresses picky eaters. My clear favorite was Frankenguest, a hilarious little number made even better by one of the stand-out cast members, Doug Thompson. Seriously, go see the show and tell me if this kid isn’t Jack Black, Jr.

Dear Edwina runs throughout this month at the DR2 Theatre on Union Square. If you’re cooped up on a cold winter day watching Hannah Montana or High School Musical 3 for the 40th time, I highly recommend checking out this show. 

How can I combine a New Year’s resolution to get in shape with my love of gaming? By now the answer is obvious - with the Wii Fit I got for Christmas! I’ve been playing with Wii Fit for about two weeks (I know… I opened it early) and I’ve unlocked enough content to make these observations.

Some of it actually feels like exercise, in that I break a sweat and find myself breathing heavily. I’ve been rockin’ the step aerobics, but I have to say that my favorite is the rhythm boxing. It’s a coordination challenge, and I get to punch.

The yoga isn’t for me. I’m a Vinyasa kind of girl, so I like my poses flowing. The Wii Fit yoga shows one pose at a time and scores you after each one breaking up the yoga flow. The strength training exercises feel pretty good, and again, quite like exercise. There’s a nice menu of strength training and yoga exercises that can be done in combination to target different parts of the body.

What doesn’t feel like exercise makes for great party games that make interesting use of the balance board as controller. I’m as terrible at fictional skiing as I am at actual skiing, but I can do the occasional ski jump. One game harkens back to my gym class nightmares, playing goalie by blocking soccer balls with my head (only this time I have to beware flying cleats and decapitated panda heads). The best for all ages is the adorable penguin-feeding game. 

I had heard that Wii Fit can be mean (thus shattering the fragile body images of young girls and boys everywhere) but that thing is mean. It took my darling little bespectacled, pigtailed Mii (an idealized image of myself, as with any avatar) and it stuck her in white spandex and plumped her up to more realistic proportions. Hey, Wii Fit, if I wanted that I’d head down to the white spandex store then go excercise in front of a mirror thank you very much. 

As a tool for getting fit, Wii Fit has potential. I respond positively to data, so I find graphing change over time very motivating.

Overall, I think this is a great thing to have around for parties and for those days when I just can’t make it to the gym. I’ll let you know how it goes. 

Outside of Apple gadgetry, my husband can be a little hard to shop for. I like to surprise him, and this year I came across something (someone) great. My friend Margaret, whose art-filled Brooklyn home inspires much envy, turned me on to New York artist Ruth Shively, who does amazing paintings and custom portraiture. Here are a couple of her lovely paintings, and you can see more on her website. 

I’ve been feeling pretty art-poor lately, so I decided to have Ruth paint Olive’s portrait for my husband’s Christmas present. The process was great. I sent Ruth a bunch of photographs and together we decided on this one. 

She was kind enough to send me sketches and photographs of the painting as it progressed. Even though I had seen a photograph of the finished work, I cried when I opened the box and came face to face with this lovely painting of my daughter. 

If you are interested in having a portait created or in buying Ruth’s work, her contact information is here, and you can also check her out on Flickr and Etsy.  

Thanks, Ruth!  (And Margaret!)

Thanks to the Z Recommends Holiday Gift Guide, the sleeper hit of the girl’s Christmas haul is this five layer girl body puzzle from Beleduc. The base of the puzzle is the skeleton, followed by the organs, then the muscles, then skin, then clothes. 

We’ve done this puzzle no fewer than 25 times since its opening on Christmas morning, and our conversations about the body are getting more and more interesting. Since it’s been some time since Health or Biology class for me, I headed to BrainPop for some help. When last we visited BrainPop, it was for helpful information about the election. Today we did some serious milking of our free trial to watch a bunch of the health videos.

Even though much of this information is too advanced for Olive, she’s captivated by these little videos, especially when they show parts that look like her puzzle. 

We also like the video of the urinary system showing how urine fills up the bladder like a balloon. It’s a great visual metaphor for the recently potty-trained.

And now, a quick note to BrainPop: Thank you for your free videos, but this isn’t quite cutting it for our curious daughter. I’d subscribe, but the $99 is a little steep for the occasional video watching. I’d even subscribe for a month or two, but your 12-month minimum is killing me. Even with your 25% off holiday special, I’m still not seeing it happening. How about some other options for parents like me? What about an option to watch for free on an ad-driven site? DVDs? Anything? Pleeeease? 

For my Christmas post there can be none other than our favorite Christmas book, Olive the Other Reindeer by J. Otto Seibold and Vivian Walsh. Olive the dog mistakenly hears the refrain “All of the Other Reindeer” coming from the Christmas music as “Olive the Other Reindeer” and reports to the North Pole for duty. Santa, skeptical of the use of a non-flying dog on his team, relents and soon finds uses for Olive along the way.

Olive has also been enjoying our Olive the Other Reindeer Pop-Up advent calendar all month (well, for part of the month - I bought it last January and remembered it by the second week in December).

Merry Christmas to you and all your little reindeer!

My Mother-In-Law just shared these holiday gems with us, and I thought I’d share them with you. Readers from the Chicagoland area may remember sweet Suzy Snowflake.

And furthermore, here’s Hardrock, Coco, and Joe.

Check out these super-cute vehicles by Sprig Toys. They have lights and music that are powered by kid movement, not batteries, which is quite nice. The company sounds eco-friendly in other ways, too, making their toys from “Sprigwood”, a bio-composite material made from recycled wood and reclaimed plastic.

Their website features this great video about how the toys are made, which my factory-video-obsessed girl is going to love. 

It is my wish this toy-giving holiday season that little toymakers like Sprig Toys are not driven out of business by the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act, which Smart Mama understands in far greater detail than I do. Visit the Handmade Toy Alliance to see how you can take action to protect small toymakers from the CPSIA. 

Thanks, Ian!

Tonight we visited the Big Apple Circus with Olive and her best friend. We had thought about going last year, but I’m glad we waited until they were 3. The show had lots of great moments, but Olive clearly favored the animal acts of the second act. She asked me before the show if I thought the circus would have baby kittens or a baby dinosaur. Imagine her delight when she saw the miniature horse, or “baby pony”. Awwww!

Despite the great talent of the performers, some of the acts went on a little long. As amazing as it might be, a three-year-old can only watch a trapeze act for so long.

Olive loved the jugglers and the clowns were great (not phobia-inducing at all). The circus felt quite intimate - it’s a small venue and the performs were always walking around. In fact, Grandma Clown, star of the show, greeted us with a “I would have flossed if I’d known you were coming” when we arrived.

The circus band was pretty rockin’. They had a broad range, from Medieval Fair to Van Halen to some Tarantino soundtrack hits. A good time was had by all, and I’ll tell you that the view from the cheap seats was just fine. Big Apple Circus is in NYC until January 18, then it’s on to Atlanta.

Imagine if The Most Dangerous Game was a reality TV show watched by an entire nation. Then imagine all of the contestants are children. This is The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, author of Gregor the Overlander and The Underland Chronicles. As much as I love those books, Suzanne Collins has outdone herself with this amazing new young adult novel. 

A country called Panem has risen out of an apocalyptic North America, ravaged by war, drought, storms and other disasters. There were 13 districts surrounding the Capital, until one day the 13th district decided to rise up against the Capital. Well, that didn’t work out so well and now there are 12 districts. To keep the 12 districts in check, the Capital created the Hunger Games. 24 tributes, a boy and a girl from each district, are offered as something of a sacrifice as they are brought together to fight to the death. Everyone else watches the games on TV. Nice, right?

Our hero is Katniss Everdeen, the steely daughter of a coal-mining family from District 12, a family that’s met nothing but hard times. She is tough as nails, smart, and charismatic. As a reader, it was painful to follow her through the Hunger Games, simultaneously rooting for her not to be killed and not to become a killer. 

This is a fantastic book, but make no mistake, it is pretty dark material. While it’s a page-turner, a particularly empathetic or sensitive kid may be overwhelmed by the situations. It was a bad choice to read on the subway - starting at about page 18, I cried for nearly 20 pages. 

This video clip makes it sound like The Hunger Games is the first of a trilogy, and I’m anxious to read more. It would also make an amazing movie. The Reading Zone offers the wonderful news that reluctant readers are finding this book.  

On a recent weekend afternoon, the fam and I were kickin’ it to Mama Doni’s “I Love Herring (& Other Fish Shticks For Kids)” and no joke, at several moments throughout the CD we were all laughing out loud. The lyrics are all very catchy, and Mama Doni takes on music styles from rock to reggae to “Jewgrass”. 

Now Mama Doni has released a mini-CD of Hanukah songs, aptly named “I Love Chanukah!” featuring the songs “Latke Man”, “La Vida Dreidel” (my favorite), and “You Say Hanukah (I Say Chanukah)”. There’s also a music video for the fourth track, “The Funky Gold Menorah”, on YouTube. Listen as Mama Doni spreads around some challah-day spirit in her inimitable cross between Sheryl Crow and Tone Loc:

For the month of December you can download all of “I Love Chanukah!” FOR FREE! Also, check out Mama Doni live on December 25th at The Jewish Museum’s Family Day.