Sing It and Mean It - Part 2

Just a few extra thoughts since my last post....

Since the movie Frozen was released, it has been such big influence on my little girl's activities and, thus, been on my mind quite a bit. There's no doubt that the movie is a grand hit. People are talking about it, discussing it's meaning in depth and coming up with quite a few ideas for what agenda it may or may not be pushing. While I, as a Christian, find traces of my own beliefs displayed through the sacrificial love shown by Anna, I in no way believe there to be a Christian agenda secretly woven into the film. I also don't believe that Frozen is trying to influence our children to find hidden powers they might possess, to embrace finding oneself and embracing independence at all costs, or to pursue a homosexual lifestyle -- all things I've heard/read others argue. What I do think it promotes is waiting for true love, consequences for one's actions, and the importance and power of love.

While I thoroughly enjoyed watching the movie all three times I saw it, there are certainly behaviors I don't want my daughter to emulate. However, that's where I, as the parent and guide, come in.

In the song I touched on in my last post, "Let It Go," I dealt only with the idea of letting go of things that are harming us. Does that mean that we should let everything go? No. Certainly there are things to which we should hold - our family, our faith, our convictions. Elsa started letting go of fear (a good thing to do) but went too far when she abandoned her sister and others. When Elsa sings, "No right, no wrong, no rules for me," we're not meant to blindly accept that. As we find later, she cannot live by that stance without seriously harming herself and others. These are the things I discuss with my own daughter when we talk about the movie or she sings the song.

We have the soundtrack in our car, and I often giggle when I catch a glimpse of my sweet girl in the rear view mirror clutching her fists, chin upraised, and singing with such emotion in her face. After she belts out a tune like "Love is an Open Door," I sometimes pause the CD and talk with her. The characters in the movie go from meeting to getting engaged in one evening, obviously not a wise choice. We talk about that and about what good choices they could have made.

Children's entertainment is not going to fit inside my own brand of perfect. Sometimes I roll my eyes when I see the way a parent handles a situation on on one of the programs Willow Grace watches. That's another opportunity for my girl and me to talk. While I do put boundaries on the types of things she does watch and read and listen to and try to keep them age (and morally) appropriate, I'm not going to keep her in the preschool world of entertainment with nothing but easy solutions and blissfully happy people.

Sing It and Mean It

I've now seen Frozen three times in the theater, all three times with Willow Grace. I had the privilege this last time to see it with my parents; my sister, Eva Joy; and my three year old nephew, Frazier. On Tuesday, we went to see the singalong version. So much fun!



What a delight to sit there in our tiny theater surrounded by children singing joyfully and laughing boisterously! For weeks now, ever since we saw the movie around Thanksgiving, my own sweet girl has been belting out the songs from the movie. My baby can sing!

Each time I hear the amazingly talented Idina Menzel sing "Let It Go" (or watch Willow Grace perform her own dramatic rendition and, of course, sing along with her) I can't help but think about the things in my own life that I've held on to for far too long or the things that are holding me back. Do I have any fears that I've allowed to take root in my soul? What habits, beliefs, thoughts, or behaviors do I allow to continue that are keeping me from the freedom to be who God has created me to be? Do I see my life clearly, or am I mistaking my blessings for curses or vice versa?

I want to sing about letting things go and really mean it.

So, here I sit, pondering these things, formulating a plan. I started this post a few days ago, and I've revised and erased and rewritten and stared at it. Honestly, sometimes it's really hard to let go... until you do, and then there's freedom. And so here I am -- dreaming of the freedom and plotting my journey to get there.

Because I'm the Mama....

Willow Grace has been battling some little illness for the last three days, high fever which peaked at 104.3 and no appetite. I decided to keep her home today, and, of course, I can't just sit around and watch her lying there soaking up Disney and Nick Jr. shows. I've been cleaning... everything - mopping, vacuuming, washing and folding laundry, scouring the bathrooms, and basically wiping down every surface that would stand still. That's what mamas do. And maybe with a newly disinfected house we can finally banish this little annoying bug.

Today Willow Grace decided not to call me Mama, at least not mainly. I've either been Sweetie or Ariel. She decided that she wanted me to call her Cinderella and also decided to give some of the other women in our family princess names. I'll list them in case those ladies tune in here today:
Gran-Gran (my mother-in-law): Snow White
Nana (my mom): Jasmine
Eva Joy (my sister): Sleeping Beauty (I think this one fits great!)
Kara (my sister-in-law): Tiana
Meredith (my sister-in-law): Belle
She wanted to give her daddy a princess name as well, but I told her we could call him Prince Charming and, thankfully, she agreed!

I better go, my little Cinderella is calling.


I couldn't find a pic of her in her Cinderella dress, but here's our little drama queen as Belle just a month ago.

Willow Grace Wednesday

I have a wealth of pictures to share this week. I guess I've made up for all that time I forgot to snap a shot or two. I can't believe that we have less than a month before she turns two! Oh, I guess I better get busy on my party planning!

(Her favorite On Demand episode of My Friends Tigger and Pooh was about to expire. In it Pooh dresses as a queen bee and looks for honey. So, Willow Grace got to be queen bee too!)

(I suppose she's judging her wings to see if she really can fly.)

(Wearing Daddy's hat and having a little conversation with Pluto. She loves wearing her daddy's hat.)

(Tickle fest with Daddy!)

(Such a Daddy's girl!)

(So excited to be wearing Papa's Nikes!)

(Willow Grace and her sweet Papa!)

I hope you're having a great Wednesday!