Wonder Toddler Wednesday--Mulan

Wonder Toddler Powers, activate! Form of...Mulan getting ready for the matchmaker!

Eme got a costume for Christmas that is supposed to look like a traditional Chinese outfit (thanks Aunt Gillie and Uncle Ryan!). She calls it her "Muuman dress." She enjoys putting on the whole getup (including a pair of red shoes--thanks Papa Guy--and a pink fan) and acting out the first few scenes of Mulan (where Mulan gets dressed to go meet the matchmaker and, through a series of hilarious events, ends up making a huge mess).

Luckily, Papa Guy is usually willing to act out the whole movie with her. Then they act out Cinderella, or Beauty and the Beast, or Robin Hood... the list goes on.

So cute.

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Wonder Baby Wednesday #37

Wonder Baby Powers, activate! Form of...Maid Marion (the fox version from the Disney Robin Hood cartoon) or Maria from Sound of Music. Or both.

Eme is at an age where she loves to mimic things she sees. When she wanted to put dishtowels on her head to mimic wearing a wimple, we clearly had to capture it on film.

She's actually getting quite good at repeating lines from movies, as well, so when she plays "Maid Marion" she's constantly looking out windows and sighing for Robin Hood. When she's Maria she runs around singing "my favorite things."

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Wonder Baby Wednesday #32

Wonder Baby Powers, activate! Form of...the happiest girl in the world.

We got to meet princesses when we visited Disney World last week. She was a little shell shocked at first, but here you can see she had a great time chatting with Belle.

I may not always love Disney, but I love that I could bring my daughter to see something that made her so happy. :)

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Things you do for your angel

My child is challenging me in ways I never imagined (yes, mom, I know that you told me this would happen, but it's different to hear about it than to experience it).

Today we took her paper dolls of Cinderella, Belle, and Ariel and dressed then undressed then re-dressed them in all "boo-fullll" dresses. Again and again.

And I enjoyed it.

Not because I love playing dress up (though I think there may have been a time when I was a lot younger and I did like dressing my dolls). Because SHE loves playing dress up. It's amazing to feel her excitement transferring to me -- she gets so excited about which dress each of them will wear that I find myself saying "Ariel, what dress would YOU like?"

As anyone who knows me can vouch, and something that has been a theme in many other of my posts, Disney princesses are not my thing. This morning, though, they were. Just for a little while.

I imagine that if she wants to play again tomorrow, they'll be my thing tomorrow, too.

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Redefined

[Wouldn't it be cool if, just once in a while, I actually posted something other than a picture? Well, here you go. I've been meaning to post on this topic for a while, so it's both of our lucky day; I get to post it, you get to read it. :)]

It's amazing how I've learned to redefine things now that my life has changed so much. A few examples:

A good day:

• Used to mean I got out of work early, or got to spend a whole day doing fun stuff that couples do with Andreas, or got a bunch of tasks done that I'd been meaning to do.
• Now it means that Eme took her nap (so that I got to do some work, or could spend time with Andreas, or get a few tasks done that I meant to do).

A clean house:

• Used to mean that I'd cleaned top to bottom, vacuuming every room and swiffering the linoleum, got the laundry and dishes done, counters cleaned, paraphernalia put away.
• Now it means there aren't toys EVERYWHERE, and the counter is relatively clean-ish.

Sleeping in:

• Used to mean cuddling in bed with Andreas until 9 or 10 in the morning on Saturday, usually followed by a leisurely breakfast.
• Now it means Eme doesn't wake me until 7:30, instead of at 7.

Watching a movie:

• Used to mean Andreas and I would sit down for the full length of a film we, as adults, wanted to see.
• Now it means watching any of a number of Disney films that I've now seen multiple times each (skipping over any "scary" parts as defined by Eme), or watching part of a movie with Andreas after we put Eme to bed (only part because we're often too tired to finish in one sitting)

The list could go on, but the important thing is this: it is our capacity to redefine ourselves that allows us to grow and change, and it is through change that we experience more of the world than we ever knew existed. It is through change that we remain alive, and avoid becoming stagnant.

Therefore, while all of these redefinitions may sound like complaints, the truth is that they're my life and I love my life. With that in mind, I offer one final redefinition:

Love:

• Used to mean the way I feel about my family, and the special bond I share with Andreas.
• Now it means all of those things, plus the way my heart fills when I see/think about/teach something new to/learn something new from Eme.

Thank goodness for the change that brought me, along with everything else that I've redefined, this amazing connection, which I wouldn't trade for anything.

Not even for Saturday mornings.

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Wonder Baby Wednesday #26

Wonder Baby Powers, activate! Form of...Cinderella ready for the ball!

Thanks, Aunt Amy, for Eme's first "pedicure" and her toddler-sized "glass slippers."

Yes, I gave my permission. Anyone who "Disney-fies" my child without permission deserves what they get from me. But how could I say no when Eme got so excited at the prospect of getting to do her toes just like mommy and Aunt Amy?

Plus, it turns out glass slippers aren't just for dancing. You should see her play football in those shoes!

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The differences between men and women.

Eme has really begun to enjoy Eloise -- you may remember the books from your childhood, or you may even have seen the (very cute) movies produced back in 2003 with Julie Andrews as the nanny. We got the movies from the library, and Eme likes to ask me to tell the story, or will sometimes do something Eloise does (like stand on her toes).

The other day I found myself searching Amazon to see if I could get the movies (they're not really widely available right now since they're from 2003 and you can only check them out of the library so many times before you start to seem strange). I found and ordered them, and ordered an Eloise book that I thought Eme and I could read together as well.

A little bit later, Andreas was talking about a present he wanted to get for Eme. Could it be that he had also noticed how much she liked Elosie and wouldn't it be funny if we were searching for the same thing?

Nope. Not so much.

He wanted to get her a couple of sticks like the one Mulan has (points for trying to get her something from a character she likes) so she can fight me like Mulan does.

That may not be the only difference between men and women, but it's certainly an eye-opening one. :)

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Conversation as I attempted to get Eme to go to sleep last night

Eme: Mama! Sing muumaid.

Me: Ok. "I wish I could be part of your world..."

Eme: No! Sing ovaaa muumaid. "Ahhhhhhhh." (Eme attempts to do the vocalization from when the Sea Witch takes Ariel's voice.)

Me: Ok. "Ahhhhhhhhh, ahhhhhhhh, ahhhhhhh, ahhhh ahhh ahhh ahhhh ahhhhhh." (I attempt, without much more success, to do Ariel's vocalization. What can I say? I was tired.)

Eme: Mama! Sing Waddddin.

Me: Ok, I'll sing Aladdin. "Unbelievable sights, indescribable feelings, soaring tumbling..."

Eme: No! Sing pwince weeeee.

Me: Ok, I'll sing Prince Ali. "Prince Ali, handsome is he, Ali Ababwa. Something something and something definitely."

Eme: No more sumping sumping.

Me: (racking my brain to try to remember the words that I have replaced with "something something") "Prince Ali, mighty is he, Ali Ababwa. Strong as ten regular men, definitely...?"

Eme: Guuu job, mama.

Me: Time to go to sleep, Eme.


She's getting too smart for my own good.

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Really? Disney?

I certainly never planned to introduce Eme to the Disney catalog.

Yes, we had a lot of Winnie the Pooh stuff (it's just such cute nursery decoration), but that hardly counts, right?

Then we got a set of pink books -- the Disney Princess collection -- as a gift. I figured I had years before she'd even be able to handle them because they have a lot of words and thin pages.

(This is the part where I discover that Eme will like what she likes no matter what I like.)

First she was attracted to the big box of pink books on her bookshelf. I opened the books for her, but she took a look and didn't really do much with them for a month or so.

Next she pulled the books out again and asked me to read them to her, and quicker than I would have thought possible she has made them her favorites. I (and everyone else who ever enters our house) is now subjected to a read-through of all 12 books.

She knows some of the characters by name, others by what they do in the books. She says "Dot" when she wants to read the story about Dot the ant from A Bug's Life, or "shoes" and "uh-oh" when she wants to read Cinderella. Mulan is "muuuuu" and "dagn" (for dragon), or when she wants to read about Jessie from Toy Story II she says "horse!" (they ride a horse in the book).

I have even started to seek out the classic princess movies so I can show parts of them to her.

I wonder why it is that these stories caught her imagination. Is it that everyone who reads them has fun with them (because we've all seen the movies) and that fun comes through in the telling? Or is it that there really is something magical about Disney that children (even 19-month-olds who don't get to watch more than an hour of tv per week) connect with?

Either way, I'm again amazed by finding myself crossing a boundary that I'd set (granted, it was a rather arbitrary one) to accommodate something that Eme finds to be interesting. I guess that's what mommies do.

(Although, I have been amusing myself by categorizing the stories by antagonist, or by whether the princess in the given story has any parents alive, etc. I'll share those musings in another post in the future.)

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