Tonight's lessons

Michael is having a massive allergy attack, so for the first time ever I attended the school concert without him. But, because of the aforementioned allergy attack, I took LW so Michael could rest.

Usually, attending concerts is a two-person job. One of us chases LW and the other one listens to the big kids. (The older kids can't help with LW because they all on mats up front with their classes.)

Which brings us to . . . Five Things I Learned Tonight:

1. A two-year-old will be good if you promise him one M&M at the end of each song. As long as you generously define good as behavior that does not require removal from the gym and allow a fair amount of wiggling and talking.
2. You need more than one sippy cup of water for a single-serving bag of M&Ms.
3. When bribing a two-year-old with M&Ms, bring wet wipes. Or napkins. Or at least tissue. Barring that, sit close enough to the two-year-old's sibling to send said sibling to the bathroom for paper towels.
4. After 3/4 of a bag of M&Ms, the desire to play with the army ant helmets of the class in front of you is greater than the desire for another piece of candy. Fortunately, by then the first- and second-graders are tired of the hats and glad to loan them to the two-year-old.
5. A toddler fed M&Ms from 7:00 to 8:30 stays awake for half an hour trashing his room, instead of going to sleep.