Exposure to the Fine Arts…or Vice Versa?

Last night DH and I took the kiddies to see the Nutcracker performed by the Moscow Ballet in Atlantic City.  I just love the Nutcracker and thought…heck, why not expose the kids to a little of the fine arts…after all, it’s a Christmas classic, right?  Our seats weren’t the best (I’m a seat snob but I was too late in pulling the trigger so we got so-so seating):  we were many rows back and not part of stadium seating so the kids had difficulty seeing the stage overtop the heads of a sea of adults in front of us.  Consequently, there was much squirming, murmuring and shushing going on in the first half.  During the 20-minute intermission our boys were able to release much of their pent up energy by running tight circles in the aisle ways.  I commented to DH that I didn’t know how they were going to make it through the second half…and how disappointed I was that there was no live orchestra (it’s just not the same).  At that moment we were distracted from our serious conversation by the sound of Daniel’s very contagious belly laughter.  We turned to see Daniel just out of control with belly laughter while trying to shout the words “UNDERPANTS! UNDERPANTS!”  The boy had his pants AND his pull-ups down around his ankles while running in circles.  RJ was hysterical.  The patrons were hysterical.  We were hysterical.  Not because it was funny to see a half-naked 3 year old running circles at the Nutcracker but because his belly laughter is so unbelieveably contagious.  No matter how many times we pulled his pants up and reprimanded him, he fell compelled to entertain in the same manner.  After 5 minutes, we made an executive decision that no…they were not going to make it through the second half.  So we took the kids and left.  My well-intentioned attempts to expose our kids to the fine arts of Christmas instead resulted in the fine arts getting exposed to my adorable son’s tushy.  <big sigh – head shaking>