Taking my eldest child to The Gruffalo's Child

I'm not entirely sure I'd heard of The Gruffalo before Jamie arrived on the scene, but now it, little brown mouse, owl, fox and snake seem like close family friends. 

They were joined at Christmas by Gruffalo Jnr after Santa pulled The Gruffalo's Child - the follow-up to the original Gruffalo book - out of his big sack. 

This morning, Jamie and I went to see The Gruffalo's Child live on stage at the West Yorkshire Playhouse.

And it was very good, although a touch surreal because only the two main characters - big Gruffalo and child Gruffalo (played by a middle-aged woman with a resemblance to Nursey from Blackadder) - were dressed up to look like you might imagine.  The others (all but one played by the same bloke who wore the Gruffalo suit) were "modern interpretations." For example, the "snake" costume was a shiny silver coat which not have looked out of place on a circus ringmaster.

For me, the clear highlight in the 50-odd minute show was at the very beginning when the lights went down and the Gruffalo appeared - propelling several hundred infants (and a handful of parents) into instant floods of tears.

Thankfully, Jamie - who also enjoyed his bus trip there and back - is made of a little sterner stuff these days.