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Monday, February 20, 2012

The Fresh Beat Band Live!


Jacob loves music.
He loves television shows with lots of music.
If you know us, then you know we've been through a number of musical television love-phases.
Our first love was...

The Backyardigans

Yup. Pablo, Tyrone, Uniqua, Tasha, and Austin were like extended members of our family for a long time.  Maybe even a couple of years.  Jacob quickly learned the lyrics and soon we were all singing their memorable songs...all the time.

Next, we had a brief obsession with...

The Mickey Mouse Clubhouse

But for some reason that phase didn't last very long.
Beyond the theme song, there isn't a whole lot of music.

Our latest fascination....

The Fresh Beat Band!

Shout, Marina, Kiki and Twist are the newest members of the Rasmussen family.
Jacob loves this Nickelodeon television series.  While they don't have as many new songs as The Backyardigans, the songs they have are catchy and upbeat.  We watch their episodes over and over.  We get really excited when there is a new episode and we can follow these four friends in one of their wacky song-filled adventures.

So, when David found out their concert was coming to Las Vegas, we decided to let this be Jacob's experience for the year.  Nataleigh went to Texas, Ethan is going to Washington D.C., and this felt like the perfect experience for Jacob.

He LOVED it.

Just look at his face!



It helped that we bought the glow-in-the-dark wands.  He really enjoyed those. 

I'll admit I was a little nervous that the theater experience might be too loud, or too dark, or too scary.  We've had some negative experiences taking Jacob to the theater, but he did really well last week at the BYU Ballroom Dance Concert--which was kind of a primer, or experiment of sorts, to see how he would do at this live concert.  

 When the concert finally started all 3,500 attendees went crazy!

 I wish you could see Jacob's hands flapping with excitement in this picture.  Jacob rocked out with the best of them!  He sat in his seat singing every word, and smiling from ear to ear.  It really was a mini dream-come-true for him to see the characters we watch on television live before his eyes.  

Ethan, Nataleigh and I had a blast, too.  We all loved seeing Jacob so happy.  We had a powerful bonding moment as we sang the song together, danced to the music, and relished in a shared experience.  It was great.

After the concert I wanted to maintain the excitement, and decided to take the kids to see the dancing waters across the street at the Bellagio.  

Big Mistake.

Although the two oldest thoroughly enjoyed it...

Jacob was done.  
He was totally spent.
Yes, in this oh-so-flattering picture of me I am forcing a smile, but the real story in the picture is Jacob.
This is what we call a melt-down: hands over his eyes, crying uncontrollably, inconsolable...this is shut-down mode. 
I should have known better.  
We had just finished a super-stimulating concert, walked a crazy-busy street (holding Jacob with my death-grip on his arm), navigated throngs of insane people in Vegas for the holiday weekend, endured blaring billboards everywhere, taken in tons of foreign sounds, and we were all long past hungry.  The idea of making him sit and watch another sensory stimulating water show was too much to ask.  He tried to retreat and watched the 5 minute show crouched in a corner.


Sorry Jacob.
We took a great event and stretched it too far.
It's a tough balance, sometimes.  Ethan and Nataleigh really wanted to see the dancing water show.  How many times do they have to sacrifice their wants for their special brother?  This time I choose to let the older kids experience the water show at Jacob's expense.  Next time I'll plan better.

In the end, I am still glad we went to the concert.  I wasn't very excited, however, about Ethan being trust into a pron-filled atmosphere with near-naked billboards when he looked up, and pure-naked postcards littering the floor when he looked down.  At one point while we were walking along the strip he said, "Mom I don't know where to look?  I can't look up and I can't look down!  I'm just going to look at your back."  He's a good kid.  He doesn't deserve to be subjected to such evil stuff.
Sorry, Ethan.

 On the way home the kids said they really enjoyed the concert, but they wished the Fresh Beat Band would come to St. George or Santa Clara so they didn't have to go to Vegas.  Me, too.

1 comment:

  1. Well, he will always remember the concert more than the melt down. :)
    You are a good mommy!

    ReplyDelete