Cinderbellaurorarielladdin

Sometime over the cold dark winter months, we decided that Disney movies would be a great learning tool for you. After a 10 month experiment, I have found out that Walt Disney is a marketing genius and I am a sucker. It's funny, when we left the hospital with you, I don't recall being in a hurry, but somehow I missed the guy handing out the manual on how to raise you. Which reminds me, I used to get so paranoid when we first brought you home, I feared if I set you down or lost sight of you somehow, that I would not even recognize you since you were so new to us in order to claim you back. That would not be a problem today. Anyhow, back to the title. During the day, we had Dora and Barney, and Backyardigans, at night your bedtime ritual was to watch molly on her big comfy couch. We used to get a kick out of you laughing at fuzzy and wuzzy. Then you graduated to Beauty & the Beast. After the 23rd viewing, it also became a favorite of mine too. After the 42nd viewing, we thought that expanding your video library might be in your best interest. So along came Cinderella, then Ariel, then Snow White, then Aurora, and finally Princess Jasmine. It was fun to watch the old classics, then the new ones, may I also add Finding Nemo, Shrek, Over the Hedge, Lion King, Jungle Book, and Cars to the list, and I believe soon will come Ratitouie, then again, I think mommy really wants to watch that more than you. You were captivated by them. All you wanted to do was watch a movie. I admit, for awhile there, they were a good babysitter. Regardless, you fell in love with the Princesses. Everything about you was princess this and princess that. You got Princess stickers, princess, colouring books, princess sheets, princess underwear, princess puzzle...whoops...you were bad the other day, we are holding off until Christmas to give that to you now. My point is you are obsessed with the princesses. You are going out as Cinderella this halloween. Everything you want is prefaced by Cinderella .....blank. If they made Cinderella cars, you would drive in one, Cinderella phones, you would want to talk on one, Cinderella planes, you would fly in one, and Cinderella homes, you would live in one. At one time you used to like going to Home Depot with me to drive the Tony Stewart race car shopping cart. Every time we go there now, we have to go by the electrical department so you can see the Cinderella lamp you saw two months ago. When we get groceries, we have to go by the card section so you can open the musical Cinderella and Aurora cards. At least we have negotiated on looking at them, vs buying them.

For a while, you had removable princess stickers on the wall. (You think they are gone because of a bad episode the other week, reality is they are in the garage waiting to go back on your wall for good behaviour) I used to love it at bedtime. I would lay down in bed with you to help you fall asleep, you would start at one end of your bed standing up, whisper, Good night Aurora, Good night Belle, Goodnight Ariel...and give each one a kiss. Also, point out all their feature, Snow white and her red lipstick, Cinderella and her slippers...it was precious. Hopefully we can do it again. That is something I have to record.

I guess as a parent, the main thing is perserverance. Right now, your movie's have been taken away for a week for bad behaviour, it is day 3, and you didn't ask for them today. You learn to do without. Like back in June, we lost your soother, or as you say, soo-soo, for real. We looked high and low. Nothing. Oh well, we thought. We knew you had to get rid of that thing, it was almost as bad as your obsession with the princesses. So, this was god telling us, start tonight. You cried a bit. The next day, couldn't find it. A couple of days later, 3 of them turn up after cleaning the house. We thought, give them back or continue on? Well, we got this far. Some nights, ok...30 of them, I had wished we gave it back. Thanks to your mother, we held out and survived. Bedtime was not a fun event for awhile. We had such a good bedtime routine, we really did. Up to bed, say our prayers, goodnight. You laid around and fell asleep.

Sometimes when you have something good, you take it for granted. Then when you make a change, it can be tough. We questioned our decisions sometime, but usually upheld them. Like this movie thing. It was easier to throw one in to keep you quiet somedays, than it was arguing with you. I think we finally got it though now. Long term, I am glad I fought with you and perservered versus giving in. I knew I had patience, I just didn't know how often and long you would test it for...according to your grandfather, another 40 or so years.