Anatole

Other than me getting a wicked sunburn we had an excellent weekend. Seth and I went on several adventures including picnics, parkS, coffee shops with play areas, walks and even a giant puppet parade. The puppets were giant, not the parade. Some had to be held by almost a dozen handlers. Our all time favorite activity of the weekend was going to the MIA on Saturday for a puppet show of Anatole and Anatole and the Cat. In case you’re wondering these puppets were normal sized. Following the show there was a scavanger hunt to find a mouse in a painting, a craft project of making an Anatole puppet and a “french” snack. Even without a 3 year old I would have enjoyed this. But it’s nice to have a youngster around as an excuse. I would have gotten odd looks otherwise.

For those of you that don’t know who Anatole is, he’s a charming mouse living in Paris. He is the lead character in a little set of books by Eve TItus geared at the 4-8 yr old set. Anatole makes an honorable living as a cheese taster instead of stealing his food from others. It was by pure coincidence that we had brought home Anatole and the Toy Shop back in December. It had been the hubby’s book as a youngin’. I had never heard of Anatole, but now find him quite delightful. Even though the original book was written over 50 years ago they’ve held up well. There was only one marginally sexist remark in the 1st book about the fathers going out to gather the food. Why can’t the mothers provide for their family I ask you? I’ve decided to chalk it up to a possibility in the animal kingdom. Am I kidding myself because I find the rest of the story so utterly charming? It’s better than Rudolf needing to get the women folk back to safety which makes me cringe but I still let Seth watch it. I consider myself quite the feminist but will these subtle messages influence my son or will my role modeling conquer all?