Movie Madness

This has been a pretty movie-heavy weekend for us (yes, someone is sick again, just a cold.) On Saturday night, we watched, "The Sound of Music." I always thought of that as kind of a family movie, but given Xavier's response, I guess not. His comment (the day after) was, "I liked the Sound of Music except for the sad parts."

One concept that was especially hard for Xavier to grasp was why Maria felt like she could not marry Captain Von Trapp (a match he was keen on from the first time Captain Von Trapp blew his whistle -- "Mommy, is she going to marry him?") We aren't Catholic, and so the concept of "nuns" is a bit alien to him. At one point, when Maria was back at the abbey, he asked again, "Why can't she marry Captain Von Trapp?"

"Because she is a novice, in training to be a nun," I explained patiently.

"And nuns can't get married?"

"No, they're kind of like priests, except they're women -- they don't marry."

"Not anybody?"

"Well, I think they are sort of married to Jesus."

"But no men in real life?"

"Nope."

Xavier pondered this. "Is that why they are called 'Nones'?"


We also watched "Batman: The Movie" this weekend. No, we're not talking about one of the ones with Michael Keaton. Nope, not the one with Val Kilmer, nor the one with George Clooney; not even one of the Christian Bale movies. Yep, we are talking about the 1966 "classic." Needless to say, Xavier loved it: Penguin and Riddler and Joker and Catwoman, oh my!

Lately I have been riding my bicycle to work, and I have succumbed to wearing skin-tight biking outfits (it's not quite as scary as it sounds -- I've toned up quite a lot.) Today I was wearing a black top with black pants when the kids got home from school.

Xavier looked at me appraisingly, and remarked, "You know, Mom, if your butt was less big, you would look quite a lot like Catwoman."

Another one of those moments when I am not sure whether I should feel flattered or insulted.


Finally, the kids were talking about "bad fashion choices" in movies over supper tonight. Someone commented that Padme from the "Star Wars" movies had really bad hats, and I remarked, "Still, they were nothing compared to her hair."

"Oh, yeah!" Xavier lit up. "No one has badder hair than Padme!"

"Worse hair?" Adam said, attempting to correct Xavier's grammer.

"Oh, right!" Xavier cried. "Her hair is even worser than the Riddler's!"

Sick Skeletons

The kids have been cycling illnesses between them this month. I think we may have had 24 fever-free hours between the end of Xavier's ear infection and the beginning of whatever Gwen has now. Oh well, I guess it could have been worse in both cases. I told Gwen in the car the other day that the woman with the octoplets (along with her six other kids) must be pretty easygoing, because someone HAS to be sick at that house all of the time.

One of the illnesses Gwen contracted was Fifth's Disease. The school nurse had mentioned it was going around in the school's weekly news letter. Gwen had gotten worked up about it, but I told her I thought she'd already had it. Evidently I was wrong, because there is no way I could have forgotten that rash if she had had it before.

The doctor, on the other hand, knew what it was as soon as she stepped into the examining room: "Welcome to the Wonders of Fifth Disease!" she said with a laugh.

Gwen started crying, and I said, "Gwen, don't worry! We've talked about this! This is only a big deal if you are pregnant, and you aren't pregnant!"

She looked up at me, her face redder than ever and whispered, "Are you sure?"

Now, this is one of those moments where one has to wonder: have I inadequately explained where babies come from, or is there something I should (but don't want to) know?


In the meantime, Xavier is still fully engaged with his Legos. The problem with Legos (especially the mini-action figures) is that little pieces end up getting lost all over the house (and, in some cases, forever.) Today he presented me with a little Lego skeleton with a black body and white arms (pieced together from two different skeletons) and he asked me what I thought.

I was in the midst of doing something, so I gave the noncommital, "Pretty cute, Xav!" response.

Now, if you know me, you know I like skeletons the way that some people like cats or holstein cows. I have a number of skeleton or skull knickknacks in my office and at home, and I used to have some skeleton pictures, too, although those have mostly been replaced by kid art at this point. Evidently this crossed Xavier's mind as well, because he asked, "Mommy, is there a skeleton you don't like? Do you like all skeletons?"

I thought this over, and replied, "Well, probably not all skeletons. If you were to come to me and say, 'Look, Mommy, I bought you our nextdoor neighbor's skeleton!' I probably wouldn't like that very much. After all, our nextdoor neighbor NEEDS his skeleton."

Xavier looked hurt. "But, Mommy, I bought it for you, though!"

Yep, I can't say either of the kids are doing much to reassure me as to the state of their mental healths.