It's all in the details
My daughter has a problem. A small, brown problem of Latin descent. 
Poor thing; She has a monkey on her back.
The good news is that we have gone a whole week with no Dora, cold turkey, and she hasn't had the shakes or anything. The bad news is that we have watched Nemo 50 times in two days.
For those of you who have lived under a childless rock for 10 years, Finding Nemo is about a fish who loses his son and has to travel the ocean wide to find him. It is a story of how trauma affects us all differently, and the struggle to overcome our own personal demons, and how sometimes the only way to do that is with someone else. It's flippin' fantastic. I would dare say it is one of the best movies ever made. It's not just that it's pretty to watch, or a nice story, it's the small things, the little details, that make the difference. Someone really thought about this movie. Like the seagulls, who don't just squawk....
That's, by far, the baby's favorite part of the movie. The main characters are Marlin (the dad), Nemo (the son) and Dory.
Yes, Dory.
We have a Dora obsession coupled with a Dory obsession. Slap a one-year-old-bilingual-illiterate on top of that, and you have a frustrated mess.
The first thing out of this kid's mouth when she wakes up is, "Dory Nemo!" Sometimes she forgets, though, and just asks for Dory. That usually goes like this....
"Hiya, momma! Ni-night all done! Dory? Dora? D?..d?..dor?...Dory Nemo!"
The thing that amazes me is that she seems to get that she needs to differentiate between the two. When she wants Dora, she singing the theme song now. "Doo-dadoodoo-da-Dora, momma!"
You see? It's the small things, the little details, that make the difference.
Poor thing; She has a monkey on her back. We have Dora backpacks, Dora potties (yes, we have TWO of them. She couldn't decide on one, and I am a big pushover). We have Dora panties, too, which make for lovely hats, we've discovered. 2of3 had this exact same obsession (not with the panties, just the Dora), and it lasted almost 6 years. So, on one hand, I'm totally used to it and already capable of tuning it out. On the other hand, I already endured 6 long years of this particular form of torture and don't know if I can take 6 more.
This week, I tried diversifying this kids' options. The results, I am happy to report, are much better than I could have ever expected.
For those of you who have lived under a childless rock for 10 years, Finding Nemo is about a fish who loses his son and has to travel the ocean wide to find him. It is a story of how trauma affects us all differently, and the struggle to overcome our own personal demons, and how sometimes the only way to do that is with someone else. It's flippin' fantastic. I would dare say it is one of the best movies ever made. It's not just that it's pretty to watch, or a nice story, it's the small things, the little details, that make the difference. Someone really thought about this movie. Like the seagulls, who don't just squawk....
That's, by far, the baby's favorite part of the movie. The main characters are Marlin (the dad), Nemo (the son) and Dory.
Yes, Dory.
We have a Dora obsession coupled with a Dory obsession. Slap a one-year-old-bilingual-illiterate on top of that, and you have a frustrated mess.
The first thing out of this kid's mouth when she wakes up is, "Dory Nemo!" Sometimes she forgets, though, and just asks for Dory. That usually goes like this....
"Hiya, momma! Ni-night all done! Dory? Dora? D?..d?..dor?...Dory Nemo!"
The thing that amazes me is that she seems to get that she needs to differentiate between the two. When she wants Dora, she singing the theme song now. "Doo-dadoodoo-da-Dora, momma!"
You see? It's the small things, the little details, that make the difference.
posted by Mr Lady at
8/22/2007 06:49:00 PM
4 Comments:
I could tolerate Nemo endlessly, but not sure about Dora. That would get on my last nerves.
Harley was mostly into Thomas the Tank Engine, Sesame Street (Elmo in particular) and Theodore Tugboat. He rarely watches videos anymore with the exception of Harry Potter.
His cousin will be different. He's four, Darla and him will be visiting in October. He's really into movies and hopefully, won't want to watch the same movie over and over!
The best way to endure Dora is to respond to her with incredibly lewd answers when she stares at you, "DO YOU KNOW WHERE THE BIG MOUNTAIN IS?"
In your mind, of course, not out loud.
The Kid and I quote Nemo endlessly to our kitty: "I will name you squishy and you shall be my squishy..." and "I'm gonna be your best friend..." : )
Oh, I love Nemo. That's such a fantastic movie. I try and stay away from Dora. Much easier for me since I have no children. Although my ex-roommate did her thesis on multi-cultural children's literature, and there was a lot of Dora around for a long time...
This. is. my. life.
We too have the Dora panties, the potty seats, the board games, the backpacks. My 2 girls are close in age and so the obsession didn't so much end before the second one's began, it just kind of mutated and spread like a disease to the second daughter. So the fact that we have two of everything Dora can at least be blamed on the fact that we have 2 daughters who live to say "Swiper, NO SWIPING!"
Nemo has also been a staple in our house, although the second daughter has yet to get into it. I even posted a while back about how to watch Nemo, Coley-style:
http://coleyblog.blogspot.com/2005/02/how-to-watch-nemo-coley-style.html
I don't usually pimp my own blog in comments, but you might get a kick out of it if you have to skip the scary scenes, too.
I should just take out stock in Pixar. The Girls' favorite movies are Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, Monsters Inc, and Cars. Ya think?
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