January 13, 2008

We went to a program called Start with Art at the Met on Thursday. I kept Nina home from preschool and we all took the express bus out to the city. I met up with another mom and her 2 boys, 5 yrs old and 2 yrs old. The kids have met before so they get along quite well. The program was really great. We sat in a room and talked about King Louis the XIV and looked at the different art around the room. I loved how she really broke things down and asked the kids questions about what they saw, colors and pictures and materials and how they felt. It was a great program for preschoolers up to age 6. Normally I heard they have the kids do sketches of artwork however that day was special because a woman came in to play her recorders. Nala was really impressed since she is learning the recorder. They were big and she played some really nice music with them. I never knew the recorder could be so beautiful. After the hour long class we walked around on our own. The MET is not very child friendly. It seems I heard don't touch from about every single guard there. I understood however it was quite annoying. I would love to do the program twice a month. I just don't feel like getting out into the city more often than that. I did hear Brooklyn museum has a similar program so perhaps I will check that out.

The other weekend we went to see Hansel and Gretel at the movies. The MET opera is offering a chance to see opera at the local movies. It's a recording of a live show so you see and hear the audience, there are behind the scenes which was great and something you usually can't see at the live show and it's cheaper but you don't seem to miss anything. It was in English but there were captions (I found I could not understand it much without reading) It was something different. I planned on just taking Nala but then Nina woke up right when we were leaving so I took her too. They said they didn't enjoy it that much but I think they liked it ok because later I heard them talking about it, laughing about something Hansel was doing. I really enjoyed it. I asked Nala if she wanted to see Macbeth by Shakespeare and she said she did because she recognized Shakespeare's name. I saw there is a book called Macbeth for kids so I will get it and plan to take her (and Nina if she wants).

I'm glad I'm really getting to experience the city a little. There are several more things I would love to expose Nala too. Just have to make a list and do it.