Last night I went with my 7-year-old daughter Audrey to see the Hippodrome’s production of Mary Poppins. Audrey had never seen it, and it has been 20 years or more since I had seen the film version. We were both excited and looking forward to a magical evening … and the production didn’t disappoint.

Audrey at Mary Poppins, the Musical

Once a famed theater for vaudevillian entertainment, the Hippodrome has been transformed into The France-Merrick Performing Arts Center … a state-of-the-art showcase for performing arts. Audrey turned to me right before the theater went black and said, “Mommy, this is the most beautiful theater in the whole world.”

As the curtain rose, I watched Audrey’s eyes brighten and her spirit swell. She was immediately connected to the characters, the songs and the story. Disney Theatrical Productions and Cameron Mackintosh put together a talented cast that transported Audrey and I from the very first note to a fantastical world of song and hope.

One of the many highlights of the night was the mesmerizing kaleidoscope of colors in each set. Audrey and I were captivated by the whimsical and intricate designs and the star studded cast and choreography. Having never seen the show, Audrey was particularly taken by the iconic song, “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious” … it took her all night to master the word. It was worth the price of admission, just to watch her try to do it.

I think the standout performance for me, was surprisingly not Mary Poppins, who was very good, but I think paled in comparison to the flawless performance of Winifred Banks, the mother of Jane and Michael Banks, played by Elizabeth Broadhurst. Every time she stepped on the stage, she owned it.

This is one ticket that I would definitely recommend for children of all ages. Check out Mary Poppins at The France-Merrick Performing Arts Center at the Hippodrome Theater.  The show started last night and will run for only two weeks.

My children are on spring break so I decided to take a little trip to NYC. It was the first trip to Manhattan that my children would remember, and they have been begging me to go. So, my husband, Henry, Audrey, Stanley and I booked five round trip tickets on the Megabus leaving from White Marsh at $45/ticket and off we went.

Audrey posing on 42nd Street

We left at 7:30 a.m. and by 11 a.m.; we were all on the famed 42^nd Street. The Hilton in Time Square was ridiculously convenient with every major restaurant chain, Broadway theatre and novelty shop within seconds from our front door. The accommodations were immaculate and spacious for a New York City hotel. The streets around us were alive and waiting for our entrance.

We started the day at the Central Park Zoo. Sixty-five degrees and sunny, we passed the long line of caricature artists and vendors on our way to the zoo. My son Henry has been an avid bird lover since he was two, so we started with The Tropic Zone: Rainforest. It was 150 degrees, but worth the sweat. The exhibit was filled with beautiful and rare birds with interesting and engaging pathways that made circulation easy.

We also hit ToysRUs in Times Square, which is a child’s dreamland. Gone are the days of the high-end FAO Schwarz, this ToysRUs was like visiting a real Candyland mixed with a little circus sideshow attraction. My children, especially Stanley, who is obsessed with chocolate, loved what seem to be two hours there. Thankfully, we walked away with just three bags of candy.

Henry at Bronx Zoo

The next day, we all hopped onto the subway for the Bronx Zoo. Though my husband and I have both lived in NYC for many years before we married, we still had to ask for directions from the subway attendant. We inquired as to how much it would cost for our family of five and what subway to take to the zoo. Her reply, “I can’t even see the kids,” as she peered over her desk. “Just let them duck under the turnstile.”

Of course, that would defeat the purpose of teaching them “how” to ride the subway, so we thanked her and bought them each a Metrocard.

The Bronx Zoo was incredible. It is a gigantic place but nicely situated with an amazing array of food options, exhibits, and attractions. We spent the entire day there and it was worth every second.

Stanley in front of Candyland in ToysRUs

After three days of pampering and exploring, the Dansickers headed home. The Megabus was a piece of cake and New York City left my children screaming for our next visit.

I think I have been a big movie buff since the time I can remember biting off my finger nails at the age of seven watching “Jaws” on the big screen. I was terrified…and fascinated all at the same time.

Or maybe it was when I snuck into seeing “Grease” in the theaters…seven times…prodded on by my older but maybe not wiser sister Stacy. Still, it was fun watching the musical unfold… Danny and Sandy finally found their happy ending…and subsequently so did I. I remember going with my sisters and sharing in the excitement of the movie. It’s a memory that always makes me feel good.

I have always loved the escape and drama of the movies…and it continues today. I see almost every movie that comes out in the theater. And with three kids in tow that is no easy feat. But like mother like daughter and sons. Henry, Audrey and Stanley love all the kid flicks, and I have probably exposed them to cinema not deemed extremely appropriate for a 6, 7 and 9 year olds along the way. Still, I think I try to use my own best judgment of what I think my children are emotionally ready to handle.

We saw “Mirror Mirror” this weekend and it was surprisingly very good. I had very low expectations that a timeless classic like “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” could be effectively remade…again. But in the end, I think it was a great success.

Henry did notice that Julia Roberts was WAY too attractive and affable to be playing an evil queen, but other than that, we all enjoyed the classic tale with a modern spin. It was filled with close up shots of “Snow” the lead character, her face breathtaking, her charisma enveloping. Prince Charming, of course, was very attractive but in an interesting and somewhat surprising turn of events always seemed to need the help of a woman in the movie. I was happy to be sitting next to my 7-year-old little girl brimming with empowerment.

ARE YOU UP FOR IT?

In the spirit of the movies, I am offering up free DVD copies of the movies “Madagascar” and “Madagascar 2” as well as a $25 Regal gift card to see “Madagascar 3” when it debuts June 8 thanks to Children’s Claritin and DreamWorks.

ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS: Respond in the comments box below with 100 words or less about: “what your favorite “kids” movie is (recent or not) and tell us why it is your favorite.” (All comments are due by April 30. And all comments will be viewed and judged by me. I will pick a winner by May 8.)

I don’t think I realized when I daydreamed of getting married or having a family way back when, that I would end up thinking and feeling the way I do today. It’s like I have a different brain from my carefree single/dating days.

Stanley and his temporary pet frog

Being a parent is like living a different existence…in a good way for the most part. But I am constantly amazed at the things that I end up doing for my children. Last night my husband and I were on the way home from a very nice date night at Woodberry Kitchen in Clipper Mill. It was a very adult evening with adult conversation. No kid talk.

As we were riding home through the back roads of Greenspring Valley, we noticed from the glare of our headlight a little movement on the road. It was a toad. My husband, immediately excited, screamed, “Stop the car, lets capture it for the kids.”

I thought to myself, ‘should I really stop my car at 8 o’clock at night on this dark winding road, so my children could enjoy the company of this little creature for a few minutes.’ I kept driving. We passed another, and then another. Finally, I stopped. My husband jumped out of the car with an empty cup in his hand (yes, there just happen to be an empty cup in the back seat).

From left to right: Audrey, Henry, Andy and Stanley

I prayed that my husband would not be randomly hit by an oncoming car while he was scooping up a pair of baby frogs from the middle of the road. Indeed, he made it back, prize in hand.

It just amazes me what we do and when we do things for our children these days. We entered our home, kids all in pajamas ready for bed, and handed them this impromtu pet with the explicit understanding that the frogs would have to be let free in our backyard within the next 30 minutes.

My children were SO excited to see the friendly pair of slimy amphibians that sang…and cried…over the next half an hour. Henry,  Audrey, and Stanley talked to their new pets and held them gently with enthusiasm and care. I took great pleasure in seeing my children interacting with something that didn’t require electricity.

I still can’t believe that I stopped the car to acquire and displace these tiny little animals for the pleasure of my children. But there you have it…different times, call for different measures.

This week is a very special week for me. This week, I am taking over as editor of one of the most respected parenting and family magazines in Maryland. Everyone knows the name Maryland Family. It is a magazine with integrity and heart that I know people understand and look to for guidance on so many important topics.

I have had the pleasure of working with the past editors, Cheryl Clemens and Betsy Stein, over the years and believe that we share a similar passion for our children and our families. I hope to bring the same enthusiasm to Maryland Family  in the days ahead.

Fall 2011 -- Apple picking fun!

Here is just a little preview of my background and family. I have been married for 12 years to my best friend and partner in life, Andrew. We have three beautiful children together, Henry, 9, Audrey, 7 and Stanley, 6. My family is my first priority, and my thoughts on how to make the world a better place on my own and through them is what guides me in life.

I feel a great responsibility to my children and hope they will grow up healthy and independently with love and kindness in their hearts. I am fortunate that I have three distinctly different children who bring an immense sense of happiness and purpose to my life.

I hope to use my personal triumphs and tribulations to bring a realness and excitement to Maryland Family. I hope you will all join me along the way and help me to find the wisdom in what is best for all of our families.

Looking forward to a beautiful partnership.

Lately I have wondered if being the “good child” is really more of a burden than a blessing. My son, Henry, just turned 9 and for as long as I can remember he has also been a soft-spoken, gentle boy who chooses to be at the end of every line and refuses to raise his voice to be heard no matter the need.

Henry has always been the sweet child that is put next to the child who could benefit from his caring and indiscriminate ways. And I guess I have always had a feeling of pride that my son is the one who is chosen as an example of how to be kind to others. But this third grade year has been a tough one for my “good” son.

Henry was put into a class with many new faces and some children who have caused him deep anxiety. A few of his peers have singled him out unfairly for ridicule on more than one occasion. Whether he is teased or touched or forced to do something he doesn’t really want to do, Henry bears everything in silence while doing the best he can to go unnoticed.

As a mother, I am heart broken to see the pain of this innate responsibility to be “the good child.” Henry refuses to use his voice or allow me to use mine to help him. He holds his pain inside and when he returns home, he vents all of his frustration and emotion to me.

I worked closely with the school administrators and his teachers to try to give Henry some tools to combat the frequent occurrences that were plaguing him. But after months of trying to make Henry something that he is not, I finally decided to ask for a new classroom with a different grouping of children for my son.

I couldn’t make Henry an assertive child over night though that is exactly what this situation called for. And though I tried to rationalize with him, in the end he was helpless to escape the feeling of failure and isolation.

Everyone thought Henry could handle this precarious situation because he is a “good child,” but the truth is that it’s a lot of responsibility to have at 9 years old. People see Henry as the resilient child who could easily face down childhood angst in all of its forms by just being who he is. Gentle, compassionate … a steady calm to anyone’s storm. But sometimes even “the good child” needs a break from that kind of responsibility.

Henry is now thriving in his new environment. He feels safe and connected to the children without having to balance a responsibility to peers that may need his friendship while pretending to reject it.

I know Henry will grow stronger over time and learn that being the “good child” doesn’t have to mean sacrificing his own happiness. For now, I think I made the right choice to protect him a little while longer. Sometimes, I do believe you have to be the voice for your children until they figure out how to use their own in a positive and meaningful way.

Today’s guest blogger is Cheryl Clemens, former co-editor of Maryland Family magazine.

Friday was Betsy Stein’s last day as editor of Maryland Family. Betsy hired me part time as assistant editor in 2003 when I was trying to ease back into the workforce after several years at home with my children. We soon became co-editors and spent the next seven years putting together a magazine that mirrored what was going on in our own lives. Potty training? Let’s write a story. Tween crushes? Let’s write a story. Night terrors? Breastfeeding issues? Homework drama?

It truly was a labor of love.

 
And while Betsy was an amazing co-worker, she was an even better girlfriend. 

Now, we all have girlfriends we can talk to and hang out with. But Betsy brings something extra to that table that many women — in spite of a crew of girlfriends — don’t have.

Betsy is honest. Brutally honest. She doesn’t sugarcoat anything to preserve your feelings. She tells you exactly what she thinks and while sometimes it can be a lot to take in, it is the trait I value most in her.

 
She’s never mean about it or judgmental. She just tells it like it is, and that’s something we women don’t do enough of. We get so caught up in being supportive that often we don’t tell each other the one thing we need to hear — the truth. If these pants make my butt look big, please tell me so I can wear something more flattering. If I overreacted in a meeting, please tell me so I can make it right. If I turned in a story that wasn’t my best effort, tell me so I can improve it. If I’m not doing my best, call me on it and challenge me to do better. Don’t make excuses for me or listen patiently while I whine. Be my friend by being honest with me so I can be honest with myself.

 
Betsy has always been that woman in my circle of friends.

 
She will be missed at Maryland Family, but I know the stories she brainstormed and the wisdom imparted on the pages of the magazines benefitted tens of thousands of parents and will continue to do so.

 
So take a page from Betsy’s book and never hesitate to share your knowledge with other parents, support your friends, love all the children in your life and be honest with each other.

 
Be like Betsy.

It is with much sadness that I tell you, that this is my last blog for ‘My Maryland Family.’

After 21 years with Patuxent Publishing (now Baltimore Sun Media Group), 10 of those years as editor of Maryland Family magazine, and three years blogging for ‘My Maryland Family,’ I am leaving for different horizons.

Before I started this blog, I didn’t even know what a blog was. But when we created this website and my boss suggested we start blogging, I dove right in, and I have loved every minute of it. I have enjoyed sharing the antics in my house, the struggles I’ve encountered as a parent and the rays of light that come from having kids. This blog has forced me to focus on my No. 1 vocation — that of mom to a brood of four — and to chronicle our lives in a way that I never would have considered doing otherwise.

I hope you have enjoyed getting to know my family and our quirks. The blog hasn’t been great literature or even deeply profound — but it’s always come from my heart. Your occasional comments or words in passing have kept me going. And just knowing that I have readers out there, no matter how few, has kept me thinking about my crazy life and what might be worth sharing.

I am sad to go and sad to leave this blog behind. It was not an easy decision, but I know in my heart it is time. Maybe, one day, I’ll start a blog of my own. I’ll let you now if I do.

Jonah is my Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde kid.

Yesterday morning he was so cranky he had absolutely nothing nice to say to me or anyone else in the family. Actually, I don’t think he said anything at all. He just grunted and groaned all morning from the moment I woke him up until the time I dropped him off at school.

But it was a whole different story when I picked him up. He ran out of school and practically knocked me over with a huge hug. And as I handed out fliers to the other parents about an upcoming event, he trailed behind chattering and telling me, ”I love you so much momma.”

How could a child change so much in just a few hours?

I wish there was a potion to keep my loving Jekyll Jonah all the time.

When my 11-year-old son gets into something, he GETS INTO IT.

For years it was Pokemon. He would spend every cent of his allowance on new Pokemon cards. He’d play Pokemon all day long if there was someone to play with, and he’d talk adnausium about which Pokemon was stronger, which cards he wanted and which he’d hope to get in a trade. Then last summer, after years of collecting Pokemon, he made a surprise move and gave Jonah all his cards. Just like that, the passion ended.

But in Pokemon’s place was as a passion for lacrosse sticks. He never went anywhere without a stick in hand and was always working on one — changing heads, taping the shaft and reworking the shooting strings. For his birthday, he got a ProtonU head for his defense stick. For Christmas he wanted a Stallion with traditional mesh. He also asked for a fiddle stick with tradition stringing and  a stringing kit so he could learn to do it himself.

But his spare stick was recently left in a corner half strung. The new obses.. I mean passion is modifying Nerf guns. One day he came across a Youtube video that showed different “mods” you can make to “improve”  Nerf guns. So now all he wants to do is buy new Nerf guns that he can then break, I mean modify. And he loves to explain to any one who will listen, or pretend they are listening, what different Nerf guns are out there and what can be done to them.

My other kids definitely go through phases where they are interested in things like Barbies, animals, pirates and nail polish. But no one gets as passionate as Adam. Sometimes I wonder how this will pan out for him in the future. Will he develop a passion for medicine, law or even the priesthood? That’s what I’m hoping for.

Do you have a kid with a passionate personality?