Brazil! Brazil! at the New Victory. Photo courtesy of New Victory Theatre.

I featured Brazil! Brazil! at the New Victory on my clownlink website, and it’s going to be great for families (they recommend everybody, but lots of loud noise, so if your kids are very sensitive to loud noise, they might have a problem)

I also  wanted to make sure to mention the cool classes  and special things for kids that they’ll be hosting.

With every performance, the New Vic also hosts Family Workshops.  They are going to have one in making Parade Masks, and one in Capoeira, which is a Brazilian form of dance/acrobatics/martial arts.

Tickets are required…. As you can see, they are in high demand.  If you want to go, hurry to get your tickets for the workshops.  They are usually great fun!

Click the links below to sign up for the workshops.  If you are a New Victory Member, you get a substantial ticket off the discount price as well.

PARADE MASKS
New Vic Studio: Family Workshops
Sun, Feb 12 at 10am and 2:30pm SOLD OUT!

CAPOEIRA
New Vic Studio: Family Workshops
Sat, Feb 25 at 12pmSOLD OUT! and 4:30pm

The store began when the son of the founders of J&R, whose name is Jason, had a second kid, and realized how much cool stuff was coming out for kids, and how he had to rebuy all of that stuff again.  The light went off in his head, and he went “Wow!  I went to get into that business too!)  They sell toys, books, baby gear, and kid’s electronics.

The store is beautifully laid out, with ample room to try things out, play with the electronic music kit, check out new video games, and wheel around the high-end strollers.  They seemed to have a lot of great stuff in stock.  Of course, it was all brand spanking new.  I’ll be interested to come back in a year, and see how their layout works when it’s crowded and used and full of kids.  But it looks great right now!

In addition to the store, they have an area for developmental classes and a full-time daycare, both will be run by MoonSoup.  They could also probably do birthday parties and concerts in there too.

Max Darwin will do some crazy and silly things to make you laugh at J & R Jr's.

Speaking of which, they have a fabuloso selection of performances for the opening weekend (Feb 11 & 12)

Magicians, princesses, giveaways, and lots of fun other stuff.  The soft opening featured some of the performers including  A Princess Visit and The Amazing Max(who is, it

turns out, an old friend of mine from year’s ago, but I didn’t recognize him, because it was 18 years ago) Fortunately he recognized me, and I’m looking forward to having a beer or 3 with him soon.  Both of their shows are going to really wow your kids.  And when you look at the schedule and realize that Laurie Berkner  AND Dan Zanes are going to be at this free event (albeit on different days!), you should really just start camping out now!

I think this will be a great addition to the downtown universe of places to buy things for kids.  They really seem to have their stuff together.

Here’s the schedule

Feb. 11:

1:30 pm: Laurie Berkner
2:30 pm: Little Maestros
4:oo pm: Farmer Jason

Dan Zanes will perform at the opening of J & R Jr.

Feb. 12:

11 am: Dirty Sock Funtime Band
12 pm: Tad Hills (book reading)
1 pm: Amazing Max
2 pm: A Princess Visit
3 pm: Dan Zanes
4 pm: Kidz Bop (autograph signing)

Address: 1 Park Row, 2^{nd Floor, New York, NY}

Arrive early for performances, space is limited. NYC shuttle buses available.

For more information  visit www.jr.com/jr

I didn’t want to let him at first.  It’s a pain to get it out of the garage, and we walk to the top of the hill, and half the time there are a bunch of not nice boys playing in the schoolyard and I generally don’t like to give in to his demands and whining (it sets a bad precedent, and starts to make him think that he can get what he wants by demanding it.

But ultimately, I thought it was the right thing to do, and  BOY am I glad I did.  He had so much fun riding around and chasing me and going fast on his tricycle.

Here’s a little sample:

Watching him have so much fun is the true joy of being a Dad.

He was playing Post Office with his mom (not the kissing game! pretending to deliver letters) and they wrote one for me.

He knocked on the kitchen chair, and then delivered it.

I had bought him some munchkins for an after-school treat, and he was being very gracious.

Of course, he’s a bit more of a dictator at this point than would typically be seemly, but his letter A is pretty strong!

Danah Boyd (photo courtesy of NY Times)

Catching up on some reading, I found this great article about a Microsoft researcher named Danah Boyd, who is a scholar/activist/advocate for teenagers and kids online.

http://tinyurl.com/zephoria-nytimes

Here’s a quote from the article:

But as Dr. Boyd sees it, adults are worrying about the wrong things.

Children today, she said, are reacting online largely to social changes that have taken place off line.

“Children’s ability to roam has basically been destroyed,” Dr. Boyd said in her office at Microsoft, where a view of the Boston skyline is echoed in the towers of books on her shelves, desk and floor. “Letting your child out to bike around the neighborhood is seen as terrifying now, even though by all measures, life is safer for kids today.”

Children naturally congregate on social media sites for the relatively unsupervised conversations, flirtations, immature humor and social exchanges that are the normal stuff of teenage hanging-out, she said.

“We need to give kids the freedom to explore and experience things online that might actually help them,” she added. “What scares me is that we don’t want to look at the things that make us uncomfortable. So rather than see what teenagers are showing us online about bullying and suicide and the problems they’re dealing with and using that information to help them, we’re making ourselves blind to it.”

My kid is not even close to be a teenager yet, but those are great insights to reflect on as he gets older.

Our tendency is to want to protect– that’s what keeps your kid safe.  But at a certain point, you need to let your kid experience pain and fear and hunger– all the things that make us smart about being human.  I’m not suggesting that you shouldn’t feed your kid or protect them– but as Aristotle said, “All things in moderation.”  And although the cell phone, episodic television, and Angry Birds had not yet been invented– he was one deep thinking Greek guy.

Danah Boyd’s website: http://www.zephoria.org/thoughts/

her twitter stream: https://twitter.com/#!/zephoria

There have been lots of Mom blog conferences (esp. Mom2, and Blogher (which is not specifically for moms, but it’s pretty big)– so finally, there is one for the dad-bloggers.  And I’ll be there!  (I’m actually going to be there with my wife and child)

You can check out the information at http://www.dad2summit.com

Here’s the recently announced topics that are going to be discussed at the conference:

I haven’t figured out which one’s I want to go to yet.

He was playing and having fun, we were counting buses in the car, and talking about silly things on our way to school.  We hadn’t even had our usual fight about what to bring for show and tell, or that he should eat more (he ate two mini pancakes and some cereal)

At the front of the school, it was cold and windy, he let go of my hand, and runs over to go hit the button  to open the doors (he has a bad habit of always wanting to hit the “open door” handicapped buttons at the school).  Just as he reaches out to hit the button, he trips and hits his face directly into the brick wall of the building.

He immediately starts crying, I pick him up and bring him inside. He looks fine– I take off his hat, and in the middle of his forehead is a huge contusion/goose egg with two little holes. He literally looks like one of the aliens on Star Trek the Next Generation. (Or like Angel when he becomes a vampire on Buffy)

I calm him down, and he’s sore and cranky, but not acting weird in anyway. I get some ice from the school, and ice his head down.  (I also use some hydrogen peroxide to clean off the wound)

About 15 minutes later, the swelling has gone down quite a bit, and he’s playing and cheerful, and doesn’t seem effected by his contusion at all.

The question now is– do I leave him here to go to school, or do I take him to the doctor?

I spent another 20 minutes at school, and he’s pretty normal, so I decided to leave him there, but with instructions to have them call me if he starts acting loopy or anything else.  I am pretty sure it’s nothing other than a contusion.

But it sure was a pretty scary moment!

AA: Daddy, I want to play music on the (Casio) piano.  Dance!

ME: I don’t want to dance.  I’ll play music and you dance.

AA: No, I want to play music!

ME: How about if I videotape you playing music, and then I’ll play it, and you can dance?

AA: Okay!

Here’s the video of the music playing– I couldn’t videotape the dancing, but I assure you it was equally extravagant!

In a word:  AWESOME! (Read my full review at http://www.clownlink.com)

I highly recommend this show for anybody who wants to see a great show in NY this December.  It’s amazing, awe-inspiring, and filled with spectacle and virtuosity.

Aaron of course loved it!

Here’s some photos I put together from some online sources

Bai Xi at the New Victory Theatre in NY. Don't miss this show!

DISCOUNT ALERT!  Theater Mania is offering a 20% discount on tickets to 7 pm shows, if you use the code: TMCirq266
and purchase before December 9.

Screenshot of my Parent Du Jour Interview

In case you don’t know, The Parent Du Jour is an online book featuring 365 moms and dads, who answer questions about themselves and their work (and play) as parents.  I tried to answer the questions pretty honestly, but I’m sure that if I took the questionaire on a different day, I’d have all different answers.  Which is, I suppose, how it should be!  Leafing through the interviews is pretty fascinating, and I’m in some excellent company!

Anyway, enjoy the interview, and if you have any questions, feel free to ask!