Over the Edge

We went to see Over the Hedge in the movie theater on Saturday. It was a little long for Mr. Xavier, who likes to putter around while he is watching a video. Midway through, I had to take him out for a little bit, just so he could "have a break." When I picked him up and started jamming with him as Mission Impossible 3 was letting out, he expressed a strong desire to go back in; even at three-and-a-half, his dignity has some limits.

Miranda, on the other hand, liked the movie well enough. The movie was rated PG, but it wasn't all that scary. She even came away saying that her favorite character was the evil bear Vincent. (Curse of the Wererabbit, on the other hand, was allegedly rated G, and she says she won't watch that again -- who rates this stuff?) Even if Over the Hedge wasn't too scary, though, the "prevideos" that accompanied it were, and we spent two bedtimes explaining that there was no such thing as a house that attacks people.

Anyway, the kids' daycare is starting its summer program for "schoolers", and their first field trip is to see ... Over the Hedge. Miranda is really excited to be going (especially since fiance Sam will be there), although she did instruct me, "Now, you have to tell the teacher that I am too young to watch the prevideos."

Now, this is a field trip for the "schoolers", as opposed to the "butterfly" class, which Xavier and Miranda were both in a short time ago. Now Xavier is still a "butterfly", so I think he is going to be pretty disappointed when she starts going on field trips without him. On the other hand, Miranda seems to be having a hard time grasping that she has changed. "Why am I not a butterfly anymore?" is a frequent refrain. Today, however, she seemed to have accepted her change in status: "I get to go to this movie because I am a *schooler* now," she announced proudly, "Or, as we are sometimes called, 'a dead butterfly.'"

I'm pretty confident that they are not sometimes called that.