Home Alone. Don't let your adopted, abandonment-minded 4-5 year old watch this movie, especially without seeing the ending. I did not choose the movie, mind you. We were visiting Al's cousins on New Year's Eve, the kids were in heaven hanging out with their older cousins. As the night wound down, they were watching Babar's Xmas. Or so I thought. It came time for me to drive the boys home, so they could get to sleep at a somewhat decent hour while Al partied with his cousins (read: play board games and try not to fall asleep before midnight). Home Alone was on. The boys left the tv without protest, and I assumed they hadn't followed it too closely, considering their attention span to tv at our house is 30 minutes at most, and even Curious George and Thomas are not fully understood.
It was time to say goodnight to Daddy, an event they had been prepared for, an event they repeated aloud to us as we went to the car.
Except when it was time to get IN the car. H. hasn't done this in a while, but he refused to enter the car. He refused to let go of Alex. He began to SCREAM. All the while Lire is saying, "It ok, Habtam! Stop it! Daddy come home later!" Alex considered coming home with us, but we chose the tougher approach, knowing he would calm as I drove, that he was overtired, over-sugared, etc.
And he did stop crying after about 5 minutes, mostly because I got a little lost on the dark back roads of our desolate wintertime town and my incessant 3-point turns must have clued him in that something was up. I finally got us on a well-lit main thorough-fare, and started talking cheerfully about how we were lost, but weren't anymore (Lire loves these stories), how hard it is to see in the dark, etc. When we arrived home, I yammered on with Lire about the stars, how clear the sky was and how we could see Orion's belt, blah, blah, blah. Basically I used Lire's approach -- when in doubt, keep talking.
Habtam joined in, his curiosity about "whose belt?" getting the better of him. When we got inside and started removing our winter gear, I asked "Habtam, what happened? Why were you so sad? We told you Daddy was going to stay a little longer."
"The boy. Alone. His family all gone."
The movie. He didn't get to see the reunion at the end. Not to mention that neither of them really understands that tv is not necessarily real. I told him that the tv he watched was "pretend," and that at the end of the story, everyone is together and happy. He also told me he was worried that "Daddy was alone," and wasn't sure how Daddy would get home.
My Elmer-glued heart recracked into many, many pieces and I kissed his little face at least a thousand times. I explained again that Daddy was going to ride in our friend's car to our house and sleep in his own bed, and wake up and make us waffles.
After tooth-brushing we read our old favorite "Where's Spot?" and fell asleep IMMEDIATELY.
How was your New Year's?
