Vivid Imaginations

“We’re not in Gotham, Sar.” The words Mike had to say when he hit pause on Batman Begins oh so many years ago and I looked around to figure out where I was. I’ve been blessed with a very active imagination. That whole “willing suspension of disbelief” thing – nailed it!!! The flip side is that by marrying me, Mike has basically given up his favorite genre of entertainment – horror movies. The “funny” ones like Evil Dead put my sleep on the fritz and kickstart my over-sensitivity to any and all noises. Don’t get me started on what actual scary ones will do. Mike’s decided it’s not worth the pain. Or if it’s a really good one, he gets a date with Brad.

Genetics are funny. Most days, I think Fiona and Declan look very much alike and they both look like Mike (or Auntie Tracey in Fiona’s case). Quinn looks more like me (although still has plenty of her dad). But Quinn is all Mike’s when it comes to movies. And the bookends – imagination central, just like their mama.

Part of our bedtime routine involves watching a video on my phone, usually some song from a movie. [My 2-year-old can accurately do dance moves from Singing in the Rain] A couple weeks ago, I showed an unvetted clip from Oliver & Company. They love other videos from that movie, so what could go wrong? Lots. Lots could go wrong. Every kitty except Oliver was adopted (cue the tears from Fiona), a rain storm broke the cardboard box the kitty was in (cue wails from Declan), and mean black dogs chased the kitty. By the end, Declan was sobbing uncontrollably and Fiona had her face buried in a pillow. Quinn was like, “bummer, the kitty is lost.”

It’s not that Quinn doesn’t care about the kitty. She really meant her “bummer.” But she was also totally clear it was a cartoon and that the kitty was fine (based on the other clips of the movie we’ve seen). Fiona and Declan, on the other hand, have repeatedly extracted the promise from me that they will never.ever have to watch that video again. And if we ever watch the movie (as Q would like to), we skip that part.

And now, we preview bedtime videos before we play them for the children.