- It got Jayna interested in MOVIES instead of 8 minute cartoons. Yes, it's an animated movie, but it requires her to use her attention span to the max. I love it.
- The story of how we acquired it. Jayna and I were on one of our many Target outings. In the winter we'd go there just to get out of the house. At the end of January 2011, it was raining and gross and cold. I picked her up from school and we went and got a flushie (Icee for those that don't speak Jaynish) and some chips and I pushed her around Target in the cart just to look at things. We didn't really have anything we needed to buy and I told her that we were just there to look and that we weren't buying any toys. When we went over to the movie section, she promptly wanted out of the cart. She's a good kid, so I let her out. I was standing in CD aisle when I realized she wasn't right there next to me. I knew she wasn't far, so I turned around and she was standing in front of the end cap. She looked, picked something up and brought it to me. It was Anastasia. She said, "Mommy, this isn't a toy and it's only a 4 and a 7 and a 5. Can I get it please?" I thought she somehow mixed up the numbers so I went to the end cap. She was right!! It was only $4.75!! So she got it. And we've watched it more times than any other Disney movie that I paid over $20.00 for.
- It made Jayna want to be a princess. Some of you will think that's bad, but I'm here to tell you that when little girls think they're princesses, even for just a minute, it is the cutest thing that ever happens. :)
There's a little dog in the movie that is named Pookah. We've only known his ACTUAL name for about 3 months. All this time we thought his name was Hookah...pronounced as who-kah. Like the pipe. We thought that because that's what Jayna told us his name was. We figured she was right because she watches that movie atleast once a week to this day...over a year later. Turns out, our suspicions were correct in thinking that naming an animated dog in a kid's movie after a tobacco pipe was inappropriate. Oh well. Whatareyagonnado?
About 3 weeks after she got Anastasia, Valentine's Day rolled around. Her great uncle Norbert gave Jayna a little stuffed colorful dog holding a heart. And of course she promptly named him Hookah and started taking him to school with her everyday. So then I had to go through the slight embarrassment of her taking a stuffed animal to school EVERY DAMN DAY that was named after a pipe. When asked why the dog was named that, I just gave them the explanation: That's the dog's name in the movie Anastasia. What? You haven't seen it? No, really that's the dog's name. All that time his dang name was Pookah.
Fast forward to last night. I was lying in bed with Jayna talking about my day. About how I do all sorts of cool stuff like send emails and answer the phone and type proposals and send them. And all of the sudden, she sits up and says, "Mommy, I haven't seen Hookah in, like, awhile." (Yes, his name is STILL Hookah even though we know the REAL name of the dog and yes, she STILL sleeps with that little dog over a year later.) So she rummages through her bed and finds him at the bottom stuck between the backboard and the mattress. She pulled him out and noticed that the little heart he is holding had come unsewn from one of his legs. The conversation went something like this:
J: (makes that breathing in really fast and really hard sound) MOMMY!!!!!! LOOK!!!!!
Me: Yeah! You found him.
J: NO!! MOMMY!!!!! LOOOOOOOK!!!! (followed by intense sobbing and real tears)
Me: Oh, it's okay Jaynie. I'll sew it back on in the morning and it will be fine.
J: No it won't mommy. (still sobbing)
Me: Jaynie, it's okay. It just came loose. We'll fix it just like we've fixed your other toys.
J: It's not a toy! It's HOOKAH!!! And he's DEAD!!!!! DEAD LIKE MORGAN!!! (even more intense sobbing.)
Me: (stunned silent)
From there, I just picked her up and held her. And squeezed her. I didn't talk. I cried. So did she. She cried for quite some time. And I just held onto her. It was the saddest thing that's ever happened to me since I've been a parent.
She finally settled down and I put her to bed. And then I promptly left the room, sucked it up and got the sewing box.
I couldn't save Morgan. I couldn't do anything to help him except give him love and compassion and not make him suffer anymore. But last night, I saved Hookah.
I took him back into her room and she was still a little upset. I handed him to her and she smiled a big ass smile and just simply said, "Thank you mommy. I love you." And she turned over to go to sleep.
You'll never be forgotten, Moe. Not even by the little one who only spent a couple of years with you.
This parenting gig? It's an emotional roller coaster.
1 comment:
I have never had a dog. I never cried about a dog, until now, and it's not even a real dog! Thankyousomuch!
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