Mommy Learns a Lesson

This morning went really well. I was expecting melt-downs after the weekend, and with Lee going back to work Monday morning. Nope. Of course, our morning was not strenuous in the least. They finished up the movie "Little Women", and we headed to the playground. Their play was pretty lack-luster... I chased them around the equipment again. We talked about the fire truck and the fire men we saw. (The park is near a fire station.)

There was a park district guy there dressed in shorts, tank top, rubber boots that went up to his knees, and a big clear face mask. He was hosing down the pavilion with a pressure hose. That was HIGH ENTERTAINMENT for a certain 2 children. They just stood staring, and he looked up from his work. I said "They've never seen anything like that." He gave us a little demonstration of the hose on the pavement. Neat. Then Habtamu starts miming (he's REALLY good at getting his ideas across) about how the hose is not to be used on people. Later I found out that he'd seen a hose like that at Zac's and he'd explained it.

I decided the park was a bust, so we went to the library for the 1st time. My card had expired (I'm a sporadic patron at best... I borrow from friends a lot... especially Anna.) so I got it renewed and paid the $1.20 fine. Doh. I can't remember the last time I'd checked out a book, so who knows how long that was sitting out there. Got the kids cards, and we checked out several randomly picked books. They were kind of swarming (as well as 2 can be a swarm), so I grabbed a few books from the Easy Reader section and got out of there.

We also checked out the DVDs. We got 2 dog movies. I'm getting to the point of the title now. No, I did not let them get Old Yeller! They did pick it up though, and I said "Um, no." I made it clear they were to pick from the ones labeled G, not PG, not PG-13, not R. We ended up with Homeward Bound and AirBud. We watched Homeward Bound before lunch. OK. So. I probably should have watched the movie ahead of time. *****SPOILER ALERT*****STOP READING IF YOU DON'T WANT TO KNOW THE PLOT OF H.B.*********** Anyway, there's a part in it where the cat goes over a waterfall, and the 2 dogs couldn't save her. The kids made a cry of dismay "OOOOOOOOOOOOoooooooooooooooooooooooh Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo." And I thought "Oh, crap. I THINK she's ok, but I can't remember." So I kept reassuring them that I THINK she's ok.... please let her be ok. She was. Then there's a bear and a mountain lion, and the old dog falls down a shaft and can't get out. And I think "Oh, crap. It's not one of those horrible 'no, no, you go on' movies, is it? Where the old dog gives his life for the others?!" High drama here. And no, it wasn't.... he lives, but you don't know that until the very end.

Habtamu LOVED this movie. He totally got what was going on, and was so into the characters, and was moved in the right spots... in short, this movie played his emotions like a fiddle. At the end, when the old dog comes limping over the hill, he stood up and cheered. When Lee got home, he got the full re-enactment. When Lee looked confused, H would look at me and say "Shaba shaba shay" (which is his "tell him in English" request. It doesn't mean anything, it's his imitation of what English sounds like to him.)

SO... any suggestions for G movies that have a little suspense, but not MORE than Homeward Bound? Also, H.B. may have played MY emotions like a fiddle, since I was crying within seconds when the old faithful dog was playing with his boy.

Lee's Addendum:
This is totally off topic, but it's worth noting that yesterday (after all the hubbub) H said that he wanted smaller portions at meals, after miming his stomach exploding, of course. We were glad it was his idea. 'Food issues' is one of those things the books say will eventually work itself out. Hallelujah, let the self-regulation begin!