I used that threat on the Cupcakes today, and it worked. It worked because my girls are opera fans. I cannot explain this. It just happened.

I think it started one bleary, refusing-to-nap Sunday afternoon when they were babies. I remember turning on the television in desperation, hoping to bore one of them to sleep. I don’t recall which one it was right now. (I actually don’t recall a good deal about that time in our lives, but that’s another story.) For the sake of narrative cohesion I’m going to say that it was S2.

Anyway, S2 was sitting on the couch, stubbornly refusing to drift off to sleep when my sleep-deprived brain hit upon the idea of turning on the television. A little Antiques Roadshow perhaps? Or maybe a spot of Bloomberg News? Something that any self-respecting one-year-old would find so dull that she would have no choice but to nod off in self-defense. I flipped on the TV; it was tuned to our local public television station. They were showing an episode of Great Performances at the Met.

S2 was riveted. About an hour later H2 woke up. I brought her downstairs. She was equally fascinated.

Fast-forward to today. We were in the car this morning when a story came on about Juan Diego Florez’s show-stopping aria and solo encore Monday night at the Met. The Cupcakes heard the singing and they fell completely silent (a rare occurrence). They sat, wide-eyed, waiting for more. I asked them if they wanted to hear it again when we got home. Nodding so vigorous I thought that their heads might fall off ensued. I reminded them that this music was called ‘opera’. More nodding. More wide eyes.

When we got home I asked them to please take off their coats and shoes, and told them that I’d go upstairs to get the music. No dice. H2 stomped her feet, shouting “I! Want! OPERA!!!!!!”

They sat on the counter in kitchen listening to Mr. Florez’s encore, twice. (It’s totally worth it, BTW. Amazing stuff.) Then it was on to YouTube for more opera. And more opera. S2 eventually got bored and went off to play for a while. Not H2. She sat and watched while I alternately cooked and searched YouTube for yet more opera videos. Then the three of us watched yet more opera videos all the way through dinner. Finally, 45 minutes later, they’d had enough. Almost…

All I can say is that there is nothing cuter than two three-year-olds attempting to sing that first run of high notes from “Der Hölle Rache kocht in meinem Herzen” (the Queen of the Night aria) from Die Zauberflöte (The Magic Flute).

Here are some their favorite opera videos from YouTube, in case you, too, have a couple of opera-crazed preschoolers:

Elena Mosuc sings the aria “Der Hölle Rache”

Joan Sutherland & Marilyn Horne - Viens Mallika/Flower duet

Zauberflöte: Gemeinsamer Kurzauftritt der Beiden bei “Wetten Dass…”. Ausgestrahlt vom ORF
(German speakers please feel free to translate this for me. Please.)