A Pirate's Life for Henry

Linsey's little boy recently turned four, and to celebrate, they held a party at the Children's Theater.  Henry was literally geared up for the pirate theme, prepared with his eye patch and head scarf from a previous party.  The inflatable sword, sadly, wasn't located.

Considering that it would be H's first stage performance, I attended, sitting on a bench with my feet propped on a coffee table.  It's amazing what you can get away with when you are as big-pregnant as I am.

To start the festivities, all the kids introduced themselves by standing on a small "stage" and doing something that starts with the same letter of their name.  Henry chose to be Happy, and the facilitator, who also moonlights at our local dinner theater, perfectly demonstrated his enactment of happy while Henry looked on in full-on critique mode.  There are times when he is perfectly happy being the observer, and we know we will get a complete run-through when we get some of our own Henry time.

After cake and presents, parents were asked to leave the kids in the conservatory while the professional actress prepared the birthday boy and his invitees for their stage debut in "How I Became a Pirate."  Anyone who spends time with Henry is not surprised that he interpreted his supporting role as a chance to ham it up on stage.  He wore his costume in the way that a real pirate must--disheveled.  The eye patch became a forehead patch, and it eventually moved down his face to become a mouth patch.

As the show ended and the players took their bows, H was whisked away to attend another pirate party. Our friends, The Morgans, were celebrating the pending birth of their baby boy, "Captain" Morgan.  The food was bountiful, and the baby gift booty overflowed.  Henry's highlight was spending some time with Captain Morgan's older sister, who always excels in entertaining our little entertainer.

I should also point out that Henry's favorite TV show is "Jake and the Neverland Pirates," which he asks to watch almost every day.  It's the first TV show that he really latched onto, even more so than "Thomas and Friends."  He mostly preferred books, pretend play and assembling train tracks to sitting in front of the TV. We are all about choices in this household, and Henry told me that, "Every day, I will ask you for show choices, and every day I will choose 'Jake and the Neverland Pirates.'"  Admittedly, the show is entertaining and much less annoying than most of the shows available to him, so it gives us a chance to snuggle in my bed and watch the simple plot, sing the repetitive songs, shake our heads at Captain Hook's thievery, and count gold doubloons.

Yo Ho, Yo Ho, It's the Pirate's Life for Henry!