One of the byproducts of my inability to function, is that Cadet has been getting a LOT of television time....and for the record I surprisingly am not concerned about that in the slightest. I had to do what I had to do to make it through the last few weeks. A significant developmental leap has been made in his television viewing habits in the last few weeks. I think we may have skipped a few stages - but we've moved beyond the simply animated land of Cars andTelletubbies into a brave new world. His favorite movies are now Star Wars and Napolean
Dynamite. Part of me is lamenting how fast childhood vanishes (really whatever happened to Big Bird and Barney? We skipped right through children's live action television) - but another part of me is relieved to have some movies that I can actually somewhat stomach. Darth Vader is Cadet's particular favorite. I don't think he has grasped onto the notion that he is the bad guy yet, and so he isn't afraid - he is simply mesmerized by the black man. He walks around the house dooting the theme song and saying, "Mom - I am your Father." (He hasn't quite got
the line mastered.) Darth Tater is his new best friend, and he just gets a kick out of our Yoda Furbi. Yes, we have a Yoda Furbi. My mom gave it to me to give to Eric when we were dating. I thought it was a weird thing to give to him then - and I assumed Eric would think it even
weirder since he barely knew my mom at the time - so I tucked it up in my closet. A few weeks later when my mom came to visit and I grabbed my jacket form the closet and Yoda started chanting - um ...well....I had a bit of explaining to do to her.About a year after we were married I was cleaning out some old boxes and found it and gave it to Eric. We had a good laugh over the whole thing.
I digress. Cadet gets a kick out of grabbing what he calls "Yoda Crackers" (Soda Crackers) and trying to shove them in Yoda's mouth whilst Yoda is maniacally laughing and saying, "Mmmmm. Stop This you Must. Put me Down you will. OBEY THE FORCE!"
Cadet's other favorite movie is really quite a bit of a mystery to me. I have to say I am not really a big Napolean Dynamite fan. When the movie first came out it was all the rage in California. I was working with the Young Women in my ward at the time - and they all started to wear moon boots to church in September ( I KID YOU NOT) so that they could be like Napolean. And...and it wasn't just the LDS youth that took to it - Dynamite played in our theaters here forever! Everyone loved it. I reluctantly went, mainly just to get everyone's incredulous eyes off of me when they found out I was from Idaho and I hadn't seen it. I watched it and I barely laughed. I couldn't laugh. See --- laughing at Napolean was like laughing at myself. I couldn't laugh at the male high school version of me. I could just relate to way tooo many of the characters of that movie. (Thankfully not Kip or Rico.) It just made me uncomfortable. I had moon boots like Napolean in elementary school. (In fact I lost one playing in the snow. I put my foot in some
snow,came out without a boot, and couldn't ever find it. My mom made me put up reward signs all over the school - "REWARD $2 for a missing pink boot." I still remember people laughing and asking me, "Why didn't you just put your foot back in the same hole?" Well duh - I thought I had. I never did find the boot until the Spring. It was too soggy to salvage by then.) I also had the same white dress that two girls in the dance wore. My name is Debby - way too close too Deb. I'm guilty of the whole side ponytail crime. My mom once set me up on a date with a
strange boy who had goats in his front yard....and of course I'm from Idaho. I used to eat at Big J's with Eric when we were in college. It was just too much for me. It seemed too real to be very funny for me.
Here in California - Napoloean was a strange novelty a character they'd never really come in contact with before. But for me - I felt like my hometown was crawling with Napolean's - and at times I was a Napolean. My huge jingle bell earrings I wore in High School at Christmas time come to mind right off - not quite tater tots in the pockets - but not real smooth either. I refused to buy the movie at first. Jump forward 2 years - and my friend made me promise to watch it at least one more time before she moved to New York. She thought I needed to give it a second try - and come to grips with Napolean being different, but cool, and well, funny. I acquiesced eventually. I found it for $2 on VHS - and so - I bought it because it was cheaper than renting....and yes... I did laugh the 2nd time around. It does get better with subsequent
watchings. I don't get why Cadet - a 2 year old - is so attracted to it, though. Eric was the one who suggested it to him as a bedtime movie. It is calming and slow - and does put him to sleep. But, the fact that Cadet likes it so much.... frankly it scares me a little. I'm not sure I want him modeling too much of Napolean. It's only a matter of time before he starts asking for Hammer Pants with Pockets and a Perm. He already had us name our fish La Fonda and Summer and he does a mean Napolean Dance.
So there you have it - about all the thoughts I've been able to muster up in the last 2 months that don't have to do with upchucking.....it's been a tough little bit. Thanks to our powerful ally the Force we have survived.
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