Oh, my goodness, I am so waxing nostalgic! One of my Facebook friends has recently purchased a set of DVDs to watch with her young son and her husband. Some of the titles are newer but others are from the old days such as "The Wizard of Oz" and "The Sound of Music", among others. One title is a movie released to theaters this summer or late spring and is already in the stores. Those who have watched "Home" liked it but apparently the movie didn't flourish in the theaters. I am not a fan of these animated/Pixar-style movies but others have no problem with them.
Erica was telling how her son, usually madly running about, sat still for longer periods watching "Mary Poppins". He is about 2 1/2 so for him to stop playing and watch portions of the movie was remarkable. This brought to mind my family's experience with Justin and "Peter Pan". When he was little, we got a Disney book series of such titles which came with cassette tapes. At the sound of the 'chime', the child was prompted to turn the page, as the book was read to him. When we were in the car, Justin had his little briefcase with the books and the tapes with him, and his own kid's cassette player. Mom and Dad could listen to the radio and/or talk while he entertained himself with the books and tapes.
One of Justin's very favorites was "Peter Pan" and a favorite line was when Peter called Cap'n Hook a codfish. "You're right, Pan, I AM a codfish". Because he loved the story so much we decided to try having him watch the movie. We didn't get the animated version, though, but instead the stage version with Mary Martin as Peter Pan. He was between three and four at this time, usually more interested in running about than sitting to watch. Prior to this movie, he'd never sat down to watch anything except perhaps a cartoon on occasion.
Well, Mom, my former spouse, Justin, and I sat down one evening to watch "Peter Pan", with Justin sitting on his father's legs. It was after dinner which might have helped but that child sat there and watched the entire movie, hardly moving. The adults had as much fun watching him as watching the movie. We couldn't believe our eyes! Justin was riveted, absolutely riveted.
Justin was a changed man after watching the movie, wanting to act out the scenes from movie. I had to establish with him the rule of 'no flying in the house!'. He wore a cape and loved to call everyone he met a 'codfish'. That had to be corrected quickly as this was quite rude but also so darn cute! We called his bedroom the nursery (or at least I did...) since he fell in love with that book, much as the children in the story called their room the nursery.
Justin and I gave the book/tape sets to my niece's family which was a bittersweet donation to make. By the time Timmy came along the cassette player no longer worked but the books still worked fine. I am not sure if my great nephews still have the books, it's likely they do not, but I love remembering the joy they brought to Justin, and to us, those 25 years ago.
Another story: One time I was chasing Justin around the house in an attempt to get him ready for church. He was wearing only his training pants (no Pull-Ups in those days), which were thick underwear. I threatened him, "Justin, if you don't get dressed, you'll have to go to church in your underwear!" He stopped in his tracks and looked at me with a gleeful expression, "I'll look just like the Man Cub!" Yes, another book in that set was "The Jungle Book". Oh, my goodness, that child made/makes me laugh!!! I sometimes still call him the Man Cub but never a codfish, because that is just rude...
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