The answer to the question is, in their own words: “playing computer.” The Cupcakes like to drag their little step stools over to the window ledge, kneel on the top step and pretend to type on the window sill, while announcing “I play com-pooter, Mama!!!!” Wonder where they learned that…?

It seems the the Cupcake’s infatuation with opera is waning a bit. I may have overdosed them; I’m not sure. (It’s not entirely my fault. If you bring a 3-year-old into a library and she asks the reference librarian for ‘op-a-wa moobies’ you will come home with a lot of DVDs.)

At any rate, a capella music is all the rage right now, at least in H2’s world. And once again it’s YouTube to the rescue. We spent a good 25 minutes after nap (yeah!!! nap!!!!!!) this afternoon surfing for collegiate a capella videos. There were some really good ones. And some less good ones. And one that I think DH will enjoy.

Honey, this one’s for you:

ELO Medley - Tufts Beelzebubs, Sept 3, 2007

The Cupcakes have a new favorite game. I took a picture of them playing it this morning. Can you guess what they’re “doing”?

Leave a comment with your guess..

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.)

Lately the Cupcakes have been extremely enthusiastic about cleaning up. Specifically, they lovelovelove to clean the glass top on our dining room table. Which is good, since their second favorite thing to do is to get their hands good and icky and then make handprints on the glass.

I’m looking forward to the day when I can get them to do the windows, too.