"Special Needs"

I saw Harry Potter.

I loved it. I did. I thought it was the most true to the book movie they've made to date. That's probably because they are making two movies out of it, but still.

The only real thing that bugged me was that little nudey scene in the middle. You don't really see anything, but still, come on, I don't see why they couldn't have done that scene with their clothes on. I don't think it would change anything. (except me feeling uncomfortable about my kids seeing that part.)

But that's not what I wanted to talk about. Go see the movie, but close your eyes when Ron destroys the locket. (hope I didn't give too much away.)

What I wanted to talk about was Christopher. And the fact that he is now my oldest kid in diapers. Even Zach was potty trained by now. It's totally ridiculous. Anyway, I was invited by a friend to go see the movie while the older kids were in school, but clearly couldn't take Christopher into the theater. I looked for a babysitter, but to no avail. My friend was going to use the little day care at the theater (brilliant idea, btw) but they only take kids who are potty trained. Drat.

Fortunately, my friend is one of those people who makes things happen. She called the day care and pleaded my case- "he's four and half and a really good kid, but he's speech delayed and in a special pre-school and he's still in diapers." Their response- "We do make exceptions for special needs kids."

Yay?

I had a hard time swallowing those words. "Special Needs." I'm not sure why. I mean with the whole being ridiculously afraid of underpants and the occasional temper tantrum (he's getting better) and the speech delay, I've (mostly) come to grips with, but I guess I don't really see him as "special needs" when it comes to the outside world, except for pre-school, of course.

Am I making any sense?

I guess I feel in a way that I am cheating by putting myself in the same category with parents of kids with real issues and struggles.

I never would have thought to even ask them to make an exception, because gosh darnit, why the heck isn't he potty trained?!?! He should be! And I don't like pointing that fact out to perfect strangers because whether they are or not, I know they are judging me and my terrible parenting skills. And my biggest fear is of course he will be the first able bodied kid to go to college in a diaper. He'll be changing himself here pretty soon.

But hey, at least I can go see movies with my friend now and not have to beg and plead and try to bribe people with caramels to watch my kid.

(I've potty trained three kids already, and one of them I thought was autistic. Why is this so much harder!?!?)

The wait is over!

Can you guess what today is?

If you guessed "The Day Beauty and The Beast Comes out on DVD" then you'd be correct!

Yes, I'm serious.

I've been waiting FOREVER.

Ok, maybe not forever, but a really long time.

The last time it came out was 8 years ago (I remember cause I just had a baby) and for whatever reason, I forgot to buy it. (must have been all that sleep depravation)

By the time I realized my mistake, it was too late. My best option was a used copy on e-bay for waaaaayyyy more than I would ever spend on a movie.

Also, I was sure I had it on VHS, but the last time I looked all I could find was Belle's Magical Christmas or something like that, and now we don't even have a VHS player so that's a moot point anyway...

At any rate, I'm pretty excited.

New Moon

So we all know I wouldn't be able to not say something about New Moon. I would have written sooner, but I was pretty brain dead from only getting about 3 1/2 hours of sleep, so I thought I'd wait until I was a little more awake and coherent.

I totally loved it. So much better than Twilight.

A friend of mine was going to the midnight showing with some of her friends and she knew I had a hard time getting people to go with me to the Twilight midnight showing, so she got a second ticket for me just in case I was interested.

She had other obligations that were going to keep her busy until 10:30 that night, so her friends were going to save us places and she'd come and pick me up and we'd show up at the theater around 11pm.

Well, gee, if you're gonna twist my arm and tell me it's already paid for, and drive me there, and I won't have to stand in line and I could still tuck my kids in, well then maybe I could suffer through the movie. (just in case you couldn't tell, because sarcasm doesn't translate very well in the written word, I was being just a little sarcastic there.)

As far as the movie is concerned I am even switching teams. In the books, I am team Edward, in the movie, well, I have to admit that I'm now team Jacob.

I think my favorite quote from the daughter of a friend of mine was that "Edward looked like a dead twig next to Jacob's six-pack." That about sums it up.

No, seriously though, for the most part the acting was better, the special effects were definitely better (the bigger budget probably helped) the directing was better, and as an added bonus you got to watch Jacob Black run around shirtless for much of the movie. I tried not to think about the fact that he's half my age.

I can't wait to see it again. Seriously. If anybody wants to go for a first, second, or fourteenth time, give me a call.

Wizards, Werewolves, and Vampires Oh My!

On a scale of one to ten, I'd probably rate myself a four when it comes to Twilight Obsession. I know there are others out there (John) who would put that number higher, but I've seen a lot more dedicated fans out there. For starters, I don't even think I've read the whole series more than three times. I don't have a website dedicated to Twilight, I haven't written any fanfic on the Twilight books, or any fan letters for that matter, I've never really considered attending one of the many Twilight conventions, or any of the movie sets to try and catch a glimpse of the actors. I have yet to purchase any Twilight apparel, (although admittedly it's not out of the realm of possibility) and I certainly haven't formed any rock bands dedicated to the world of Twilight either.

That being said, I have gone to a Midnight release party for one of the books, had Stephenie sign some books, and I do have my favorite websites dedicated to the Twilight Universe that I like to visit from time to time. The other night I was spending my time in just such a worth while manner, and Madison came up and started asking me what I was looking at.

"Who's that?"
"Edward."
"Oh. Who's that?"
"Alice."
"Who's Alice?"
"Edward's sister."
"Oh. Which one is the girl he loves?"
"You mean Bella? That's her right there."

Then I proceeded to give her a run down of the different characters in the pictures- "Edward, Edward, Edward, Bella, Edward, Jacob, Alice, Edward, Emmett, Jacob, Bella, Edward, Jacob..."

"Who's Jacob?"
"He's a werewolf."
"And werewolves and vampires are enemies?"
"Yep."
"What are these pictures of?"
"These are pictures from the new movie they are making- New Moon."
"They're making another Twilight movie?"
"Yep."
"When can I watch the first one?"
"After you read the books."
"When can I read the books?"
"After you read all the Harry Potter books."
"You're so mean! I hate Harry Potter!"

I put that little stipulation out there for two reasons- first as much as I enjoy the Twilight books, I think she's a bit too young to read them. I think I'd like to hold her off for a few years first. Maybe when she's 13, or 14. Or 15. Secondly, she can't be a child of mine and not love Harry Potter. It really bugs me that she won't give it a chance.

I finally convinced her to give the books a shot. She didn't like the movies, and I think she was slightly prejudiced against them anyway because Nick loves them, so reason dictates that if he loves them, she will hate them. And everyone knows, 9 times out of 10, books are gonna be better than movies. You can't really judge a book based on it's movie. For the most part, the movies are supplemental. They're fun. They help provide images and give faces to characters. And the longer the book, the more they have to cut out of the movie to make it fit into an allotted time slot. But to judge a book like Harry Potter based on the movies, is downright criminal.

We compromised though- She would give the books a shot, but I'm the one doing all the reading.

By the end of the first chapter she was totally hooked. (Weren't we all, though?) She would beg for another chapter, and has talked her way into staying up an hour past her bed time while I read to her for the last three nights in a row.

I love that she's getting so enthusiastic about it, but at this rate I am worried we will be finished with all the books by the end of the summer, at which point I will have to figure out another way to delay her interest in Twilight. I'm worried that among other things, I will have to take an "out of sight, out of mind" approach to it and hide my obsession from her view. That will get difficult as the release of New Moon gets closer and closer.

(BTW the new trailers out for HP6 are totally freaking awesome. I'm getting really excited.)