Seagull eyes

Every time we go to the pediatrician, the paperwork says (over and over again) "limit screen time" l and "no screen time for children under the age of two". But every time we're there, there is something playing in every waiting room. 

There's something there that I find very funny. But that's not the point of this story. 

The last time we were at the pediatrician for Genevieve, we ended up in the pharmacy, like you usually do after an appointment. The Little Mermaid was on the screen in there at what is - in my opinion, the best part of the whole movie - just before "Poor Unfortunate Souls". 

There's so much to love about this scene- but mostly a villainess who speaks some hard core feminist truths. (Look up the lyrics. They'll give you chills.) 

Whether it was intentionally written to be subversive and feminist or to show what a "bad woman" looks like, a la Roxana, who's to say? (I prefer it the former, in case you were wondering.)

So naturally, because Disney knows how to make children happy in an eerily precise way, Genevieve wanted to (a) listen to the soundtrack [which I had on the iPod (the Broadway version)**] and (b) know everything about The Little Mermaid that there is to know. 

[In case you were wondering, the message of the film, according to Genevieve, is NEVER EVER sign a contract without reading it and understanding it. Especially without an adult and/or lawyer checking it first. Also that giving up your tail, friends, and family for someone you've never had a conversation with is a bad idea. Thank you, Frozen!*** Parenting is the best.]

Since Genevieve was so eager to see the whole movie, and I'm not made of stone, we borrowed it from the library and watched it. We learned that people who do things for us aren't always nice people, we learned that parents always love their kids and will do anything to keep them safe and/or save them, and we learned about seagulls. 

Lest you think that we keep her chained up in a closet [CPS: we certainly do NOT keep her chained up in a closet], she had seen them before, but they hadn't really registered for her. Now, courtesy of Scuttle, seagulls are very interesting. 

So, we were out having lunch as a family, and I asked SuperAndrew (of the enhanced LASIK eyes) if he could see an airplane in the distance, and at which point he lost sight of it. 

"If your eagle eyes can't see it, I certainly can't," I said. 

"I can see it with my SEAGULL eyes," Genevieve said, because obviously that made much more sense. 

Since then, I have asked her to use her seagull eyes whenever we're looking for something. I really hope "eagle eyes" aren't part of an S.A.T. question in her future.

Coy seagull

** The Broadway version is fantastic, especially if you have a kid who loves the movie. There are more songs, and there is definitely more exposition. You can never have too much exposition, in my opinion. 

*** There is so much to love about Frozen. A future post, I think.