Praise Baby

I have a confession. At least a year ago, my sister-in-law Aimee and I swapped some children's DVD's. I believe she returned mine, but I haven't returned hers...and I'm kinda loathe to do it.

The DVD I borrowed is Praise Baby: Sleepytime Lullabies. It's quite similar to the Baby Einstein videos -- they have images of kids, animals, animation etc. that are set to music. Rather than classical music, they are set to to popular praise and worship songs.

It. Is. Great!

I don't know about other people's experience with this collection of videos, but for my kids, it's like magic. They can be grumpy and irritating each other. Then I pop in the video, and they are much more content and singing along to the songs. It also makes me feel better if I'm in a grumpy mood. And let's get real, if my kids are grumpy and irritated, then chances are that they've made me that way too. So really, it's a win-win for all of us...just as long as I don't return the video. (Just kidding Aimee...I'll return the video...someday.)

The World of Fairies

Over the last year and a half, Ella has slowly been introduced to TinkerBell. Although she's never seen the movie Peter Pan, she has seen the image of TinkerBell. Shortly after Lucie was born, Auntie Jamie gave Ella a TinkerBell gift bag full of "potty presents" to encourage her to potty-train. Last November, her cousin Cana got a beautiful TinkerBell snow globe that she was just enthralled with (and now Auntie Jess has to hide it in the closet when we come visit to save it from sure destruction.) In January, Auntie Aimee sent her a beautiful TinkerBell costume because she knows how much Ella loves dress-up. 

Despite all this exposure to TinkerBell, Ella didn't really know much about the character until she spotted the new Disney movie "TinkerBell" at the library. The movie tells the story of how TinkerBell came to be, and I confess, even I enjoy watching it. We've probably seen it at least ten times. In fact, Tinker Bell has largely replace Sleeping Beauty in Ella's imaginary play! 

In case you're not familiar with the world of fairies (as told in the TinkerBell movie), let me give you a brief overview. Fairies are "born" from the first laugh of a newborn baby and are brought by the winds to Pixie Hollow, a part of Neverland.  When a fairy arrives in Pixie Hollow, she discovers that she has a special gift, or talent and it becomes her job to use her talent for the benefit of the other fairies and the world. There are several different talent groups of fairies.

Of course, there's TinkerBell. She's a Tinker fairy. They fix things and create inventions to solve problems.

And of course, TinkerBell has her friends...as well as her nemesis. From left to right...

• There's Silvermist...one of Ella's favorite fairies. She is a Water-Talent fairy. She can create rain and place dew drops on spiderwebs. 
  
• Rosetta is a Garden-Talent fairy. She helps create beautiful flowers and gardens.
  
• Iridessa is a Light-Talent fairy. She can create rainbows (with the help of Water-Talent fairies), give lightening bugs their light, etc.
  
• Fawn is an Animal-Talent fairy. She does things like making sure that animals coming out of hibernation have food and she helps teach baby birds how to fly.
• And of course, TinkerBell's nemesis is Vidia, the Fast-Flying fairy. She creates the winds and can pollinate flowers. Because her talent is rare, she thinks that she is better than everyone else and looks down on Tink for being a "tinker".

Because Ella loves dress-up so much, I'm thinking about trying out my sewing skills and making some other fairy outfits. Simplicity has a pretty cute pattern for other fairy costumes (#2872). Plus, I think it would be fun to have some extra fairy costumes for when friends come to play. Maybe it will be a summer project for me.

Over the next couple of days, I will hopefully get time to post some TinkerBell related pics and some funny stories about my girls and the world of fairies.

(If you want to learn more about Disney fairies - or have a little girl who does - you can go here to the Disney Fairies website. It's got games and activities for kids.)

A-ha

Okay, I think that I solved the mystery of why Ella has been calling me "Mother" rather than "Mom" or "Momma" or "Mommy"! Surprise, surprise...I think it has to do with a movie.

Usually, in the morning, Brett gets Ella going with breakfast and a video while I sleep a little more and/or nurse Lucie. Well, the other morning, she was watching a movie called Summer Magic - it's a Disney Classic that featured Haley Mills. I LOVED this movie when I was a little girl and jumped at the chance to buy it when I saw it online at the Disney Movie Club.

The Synopsis: When a close-knit Boston family loses their fortune, they find a wealth of family secrets, young love, and charming summer nights in Beulah, Maine. A good-natured postmaster, pretentious cousin Julia, and the mysterious absentee landlord, Mr. Hamilton, populate their new life in a charming old yellow house.

Anyway, back to Ella...

In the movie, Haley Mills plays the main character Nancy. In it, she refers to her mother as "Mother". For some reason, that morning after Ella had watched it, she just used the right inflection of voice when she called me "Mother" so that it reminded me of Nancy. Then, it clicked. She picked it up from the movie!

This girl picks up all sorts of things from movies, tv, commercials. I realize how careful I need to be with what is on there. In fact, Brett actually objects to parts of Summer Magic. There is a song in it when Nancy and her cousin Julia are advising a younger girl on "how to catch a beau". Some of their advice includes to "hide the real you." Yeah, I can't say that I want my daughter emulating that in the future. But, rather than banning the movie, I took the opportunity to turn it into a teachable moment. I still love the movie, and I think Ella does too.