The Jungle Book

About a month ago, on February 12, I made my theatrical debut in The Jungle Book. As many of you will know by now, either because you were there at the performance or because we told you about it, it was, well, a bit of a debacle, so Mom needed a little time to heal from the experience before she could work up to posting about it. Since I've got another performance (for my dance class!) scheduled in about two weeks, Mom figures it's time to tell the story and prepare (or brace herself) for my next shot at fame and fortune.

It all started when my older cousins, Mia and Maggie, decided to be in the Boulder Performing Arts production of The Jungle Book. The main roles were reserved for big kids like them, but they also needed 3 to 5 year olds to play the very important role of bumblebees. Aunt Jen signed my cousin Olivia and her friend Delilah up, and even though I was only about 2 1/2 when rehearsals started, Mom and Dad thought it would be fun for me to be a bee, too, so they bumped my age up by a few months and we went to the first rehearsal. The role was pretty straightforward -- we were just supposed to go out on stage during two songs, and then at the end of the second song each of us would step forward and say our names: "I'm Buzzy Bee Mazie!!" At the end of the show we went back on stage to bow. We practiced 3 Saturdays in a row, then had a dress rehearsal the Thursday before the Saturday of the performances. Throughout these 3-4 weeks we listened to our Jungle Book CD CONSTANTLY and I practiced my arm movements and buzzing. Mom and Dad hummed "The Bare Necessities" non-stop, and I shouted out, "I'M BUZZY BEE MAZIE!!!" over and over and over. We were all ready for the big day.

Two days before the big performance I came down with a fever after school, but it went away in less than a day and by Friday I seemed mostly back to my normal self. On Saturday the 12th, we showed up at the theater as instructed at 11 am for our 12 pm performance. Mom came back stage and me, Livi, and the other bees got our costumes and make-up on along with Mowgli, Baloo, Bagheera, Shere Khan, and all of the other jungle characters. We did a short run-through of our two songs on the stage, and I danced along and said my line perfectly. Then Mom went out to sit with Dad in the front row, and all of the other guests (including my Nana and Ahya) arrived and filled the theater.

As the lights went down, Mom heard a loud wailing backstage and Aunt Jen said, "I think that's Mazie." So Mom came backstage and found me hysterically insisting that I did not want to be in the play. Mom tried to calm me down and said she'd stay backstage with me. For the first number, she held my hand while I stood right at the edge of the curtain, just barely on stage, with a big frown on my face and refusing to dance. For the second song, The Bare Necessities, I wouldn't go on the stage -- Mom and I watched from the side. At the end of the song, I watched as all the other bees said their names, and suddenly I was conflicted -- I was supposed to be out there, too! Mia, playing Shere Khan, was backstage with us and offered to bring me out with her, so I walked out holding hands with her. But when it was time for me to say my name, I just crossed my arms and pouted. So that was that. Mom and I watched the rest of the play from backstage and I never went back out.

BUT that wasn't the end of the story, because performance #2 was coming up at 4 pm! Mom thought that maybe if I got some food in my belly and took a nap, I'd be fresh and ready to give it another shot. So we left and grabbed a sandwich... but I refused to eat, AND I refused to sleep, AND I kept insisting that I didn't want to go back or be in the play anymore. And now Mom and Dad were conflicted, because this was just for fun and they didn't want to be that kind of pushy parents, BUT we'd spent so much time building up to this and, to make matters worse, Grandpa, Grandma, and my three GREAT grandparents were all on their way to the show! So Mom and Dad decided we'd go back and give it a shot. On the way to the theater my attitude improved and I started saying that I WAS going to be in the play... sure enough, when we got to the theater, I got my costume back on and went backstage, letting Mom and Dad stay in their front row seats.

As the lights blacked out and the play started, there was silence back stage. The opening number began in a blackout, with a spotlight on two singers on the opposite side of the stage from where the bees were... Mom and Dad squinted trying to count the bees on stage. Were there six, or only five? The lights came up revealing... five bees. Buzzy Bee Mazie was missing once again. A few minutes later one of the stage hands quietly brought me out to sit with Mom and Dad, and I watched the rest of the play on Dad's lap. Then, as the closing number ended and the bees came out on stage, I suddenly decided that I DID want to be in the play! So Dad quickly put my wings back on, and I scrambled up the steps and across the stage and got to Livi and the other bees just in time to hold hand and, with a big smile on my face, take a big bow with my fellow performers!

And thus begineth my illustrious career as a thespian.... On the up side, Mom doesn't think the experience was too scarring for me... I still talk about how "I'm going to be in the Jungle Book!" and I wanted to listen to the CD again on the way home that day (Mom and Dad said no). Everyone is curious to see how our very informal dance performance goes in a couple of weeks... will stage fright strike again?? Or will I be a star performer?? Stay tuned....


Buzzy Bee Mazie, center, before the first performance with the rest of the Jungle Book cast

A Very Creative Girl

Wow, Mom and Dad have been really lazy with the blog posts recently. I guess they've been too busy watching busy little me to pause and document everything I'm doing these days.

One thing I do a LOT is talk. I like to have conversations with my parents and friends and ask lots of questions, but what I really love is telling stories. I've got so many people to talk about, including a bunch of imaginary friends. Aso (whose name, you'll recall, actually has a much more complicated spelling) is the friend I talk about most, but there's also Vini and several others, including Mo-Pia-Bo-Pie, who was a character in one of my first extended stories way back in March of 2010. Here she is again in a recent installment.


When I'm not telling my own stories I like to read stories other people wrote.


Here I am reading one of Mom's books, which is apparently about Rapunzel.


I also still love to dance, and last month I started my first dance class. It's at the Louisville rec center and I love it! Here are some pictures and short videos.






As you can see, I continue to be a bright and creative girl!

Money!

Nana gave us a singing card for Christmas and I like to dance to it!


I started a dance class last week. We haven't done any moves quite like this yet, but I'm sure we'll work up to it.

I'm the mother...

Last night we went over to Nana's house and I got to play with my cousins all night. We got home late and I was NOT ready for bed -- I kept insisting that I wanted to go downstairs. Finally Mom got me to lie down with her in my bed. We were cuddling and chatting together, and I said, "Now, I'm the mother and you're the daughter." Mommy played along, putting her head on my chest and asking if she could play with my belly button (since that's what I like to do to her). She thought it was a really cute game, but she didn't realize how sneaky and clever I was until I said, "Okay, daughter, now I'm going to get up and go sit in my chair where you can see me. Don't get out of bed!" And then I climbed out of bed, sat in Mom's rocking chair, and played with her phone while my "daughter" stayed in bed. She eventually got up and convinced me that I the game was up and I really did have to got to bed, but it was good while it lasted....

November Fun

November was a fun and exciting month. We went to North Carolina and visited my friends Miles, Tobin, and Evan.


One night Daddy was "sick" so Dr Miles and Dr Mazie helped him feel better.


I also got to be a guest player on Miles's soccer team! I'm the one in the green shirt. It was lots of fun! Dad says Livi, Crosby, and I can be on a team together next fall. I can't wait!


We also had a really fun Thanksgiving. We went to Nana's house in the morning, where I got to make a pumpkin pie!


Then we went to Great Uncle Randy and Great Aunt Janis's house in the early afternoon, and Great Barb and GGpa's house in the evening. I finished off the day by dancing on the fireplace where Mom used to perform when she was a little girl!


I continue to be a very social little girl and a non-stop talker. After Thanksgiving we went up to Winter Park for a few days and I got to play in the snow.



On the ride home in Uncle Ian and Aunt Michelle's car I told a LONG story about my good friend Aso (whose name, I recently informed Mom, is actually spelled A-M-T-H-Y-4 1/2-3 1/2-Mazie-I-E). In this story Aso was in a swimming pool and got bitten on the cheek and on her finger by a fish! Luckily, I was there to comfort her. There was also a dolphin, and then the dolphin got out of the pool and bumped into a little girl (Mazie). "And then," I explained, "the little girl NOTICED that the dolphin was crashing into her." Mom really laughed at that sentence, both because it was a great use of vocabulary and because she liked the mental image of the little girl suddenly catching on that there was a dolphin crashing into her.

Here's another video. I'm pretty good at sharing and was excited when Daddy gave me two pieces of my Halloween candy (that stuff sticks around for a long time!) since I figured I could have one and give one to Livi. But then Livi didn't end up coming over and, well, I sort of ate them both...

Halloween!

Happy Halloween, everyone! I had a great one. A couple of months ago Olivia announced that she was going to be a jellyfish for Halloween, just like her big sister Mia was last year. I think pretty much everything Livi does is pretty awesome, so I decided I wanted to be a jellyfish, too. We were all set with that plan, but then Livi changed her mind and decided she wanted to be a ladybug... and then a witch... and every time she changed her mind, I went right along with her. One day I told Mom and Dad that Livi and I were going to be zombies! I guess I didn't really know what that was, and Mom thought maybe that wasn't the best costume for a two year old. Anyway, since Livi has two big sisters, she had plenty of old costumes to choose from and could afford to take her time with her final choice. But about two weeks ago Mom decided we needed to make a decision so that we could make sure I had a costume in time for Halloween. One morning Dad suggested that I think about what I would really want to be myself, without worrying about what Livi was going to be. He had hardly finished his sentence when I gave my answer: "A WHALE!!" I think Mom and Dad expected me to pick something from the list of options we had already discussed, but nope, I had my own idea! So Mom made me an orca whale costume, and I turned out pretty cute.




Meanwhile, Mom and Dad dressed up like spooky doctors since our house used to be a hospital. Here we are in front of our house!


Even better than the costumes, I learned about this thing called "Trick-or-Treating" where you just go around asking for candy! We just did our little block, but I filled up my little bag and had a great time. At the first house, I forgot what I was supposed to say, but from then on I figured it out.


After we finished going around the block, we sat on our porch for a while and gave out candy to a whole bunch of kids. It was so fun to see all of their costumes! Mom and Dad also let me have a few pieces of candy, but I have to save the rest. Oh well. It was a pretty fun day!

Preschool!

Mazie with a "camera smile" ready for her first day of school

Now THERE's a better smile!

I started preschool this week! I'm going to Our School, a small cooperative preschool, two mornings a week. I've gone to visit a few times with my cousin, Livi, but on Tuesday I had my first day in the class all by myself. Well, not really by myself... there are 6 other kids and two teachers, and then one parent stays for each class, too. Anyway, I had a GREAT time on Tuesday! Mom dropped me off, and I promptly changed into a swimming suit because we were going to play with the water table that day.

The teachers like us to do things by ourselves, and that works well for me -- I took off my clothes and hung them up all by myself! Mom seemed to linger around for a while... I was too busy playing with all the fun stuff to pay too much attention to her. When she finally left she gave me a hug and I said, "Bye Mom! Love you!" I had lots of fun playing with the kids, and I'm really excited to go back for my second class tomorrow!

Even though I'm just starting preschool, my days have been pretty busy and very different since we moved to Colorado. For the first two years of my life Dad was home with me all day every day, and Mom worked from home sometimes and then spent afternoons and evenings with me. I hardly ever spent time away from BOTH of my parents. When we moved to Colorado, Dad started working part time, too. This meant that I got to spend time with a bunch of other people... Aunt Jen, Aunt Michelle, Nana, Ahya, and several different babysitters. It's been a little crazy moving around so much and having a busier schedule, but I LOVE it! It's been so great to hang out with my extended family and new friends.... Fridays are "Ahya Fridays" and we have so much fun playing together. Ahya lets me do things at my own pace, which can be kind of leisurely... she took me to the zoo a while ago and we only saw a few animals since I like to take my time! But Ahya doesn't mind -- she's very patient and just enjoys letting me do my own things!

And then there's my cousin Olivia. Since Dad and Aunt Jen work together, Livi and I have gotten to spend a TON of time together, and we're not just cousins anymore... we're BEST FRIENDS! I have so much fun with her -- we play all kinds of games together, we share things, we tell each other jokes, and we rarely fight. Considering the fact that she's 3 and I'm 2, it's pretty impressive how well we get along. We'll see each other a little bit less now that I'm going to be in school on Tuesday and Thursday mornings (she goes Monday/Wednesday/Friday), but I'll still get to spend plenty of time with O-LIV-I-AAAAAAA!

All in all, I'm still a super happy kid with lots to say and lots of jokes to tell. I LOVE to tell stories and talk about my friends, many of whom Mom and Dad have never met. One friend is "Aso" -- I talk about him (or her... it varies) all the time. Today in the car I was asking Mom, "Do you know Aso?" Mom said she didn't, so I explained, "Aso is a girl who saves the day." I proceeded to list a bunch of other friends who also save the day, including Fifi and Biba. Mom asked what they were saving the day from, and I told her, "Washington." That made Mom wonder if I've been attending too many Tea Parties or something. Who knows where I get this stuff!