It's never too early for Sondheim

My nearly-3-month-old, Kayla, is pretty laid-back. Most of the time, she's pretty happy — especially if she's being held. Still, it's always risky taking a baby to a movie theater.

Now, I know what you're thinking: I'm one of those people. The people who think it's perfectly ok to take a baby to the movies. I felt that way, too, once — and I still do, when it comes to parents who don't care who their child annoys in inappropriate venues.

But this was Steven Sondheim, so I wasn't about to miss it.

The theater is offering a limited showing of Sondheim's "Company," a musical I've come to dearly love since being introduced to it years ago by my friend, Megan. Tonight was my only opportunity to go, and my sister was happy to keep both my girls for me so Megan and I could go see it, since my husband, Brian, had to work.

But I faced an unusual problem: Although I had a sitter, I didn't have enough milk stored to leave Kayla with her. It's tough, sometimes, finding time in the day to slip away and pump, so there are days I don't get to it at all. And lately, there've been a lot of those days, it seems.

So it was take Kayla with me or stay home. For $18 a ticket, I wasn't sure it was worth a try — suppose she started fussing and I had to high-tail it out of the theater? I decided to take my chances, and I'm glad I did. She sat, quiet and attentive, through the whole 2-1/2 hour show. I'm not sure how well she could really see it from the back of the theater, where we sat so I could discreetly feed her, but it seemed like she enjoyed the music. I certainly did.