I sat with my cousin who is autistic, and shared his first experience seeing the movie. In an extraordinary leap of connection, after watching Dory for a few moments, he said, "Look! It's Juwee fish!" I'll never forget that moment!
I worked with a little girl (that I now consider family, too) with developmental delays, and her favorite movie for some time was Finding Nemo. We...the whole family...watched it countless times. I miss those days.
And, another big moment...my labor with Ian, I watched the movie on a loop. When birthing was near, the nurses turned the T.V. off, and I wanted it BACK ON. Ian was born as Marlin was on his own life-changing adventure.
Ian's first birthday party was a Finding Nemo celebration, too. Of course, was there really a better theme?
I remember sitting and holding baby Ian on my lap watching the movie when Matt was deployed. Matt knew I would watch the movie while he was gone, apparently. There was a sticky note inside the cover (he left several in random places that actually took me the entire 7 months to find) that said simply, "Love you."
Fast forward to Matt's Halloween party at work, Harvest Festival, and decisions for what costumes the kids would wear this year. I've never been really big about holidays, and especially not this one. We just never really celebrated it, and it doesn't hold much excitement for me. (Outside of pumpkins. Oh, I do love the pumpkins!). But, I know it's fun for the kids to have an excuse to dress up...so I started asking Ian what he wanted to be in early September.
The VERY FIRST thing he asked to be was Nemo. Strange, because we don't even watch the movie that much any more! He also requested that Matt be a shark, and I would be Marlin. He had to think about Zoe for a moment, and finally announced that she could be Dory. "Sure!" I told him, "That will be fun! I love that movie, and you were born while I was watching Nemo!" He looked at me skeptically.
"I was born, and you watched Finding Nemo?" and he did that eyebrow "thing."
"Yes, you were! And your first birthday party was a Nemo party." So we went to look at pictures. He loved it, and was so excited to see himself as a baby.
Anyway, more of September went by, and Ian answered with various costume ideas as the month progressed. I think only the first two times he said Nemo, and then came up with an alternate list.
The list included a farmer, robot, noodles, a painter, and a few other things I don't remember. Out of all the things he wanted to be (most of those only once), he must have said about 100 times that he wanted to be a flamingo. Honestly, I thought this was about the coolest thing ever. How unique his thought process was! We even looked at all the store costumes, and he was not interested in one of them. He sighed and looked at them dejectedly, "I just want to be a 'mingo, Mom."
But, I procrastinate. And, the day of Matt's party, I still didn't have their costumes together...and not anything that could be thrown together to be a flamingo (at least not a pink one). So, I pulled out his cammies and asked if he wanted to be a Marine like Daddy. Whew. Saved by the random things in the closet. Zoe was the princess (since she had been wearing that dress up dress all week anyway) with her frog prince.
I figured for the Harvest Festival tonight at church, we would just do the same costumes again. But, when I told Ian the plan...he had other ideas. "Mom, but I already went a Marine. You said I could be Nemo." WHAT!? How on earth does this child remember everything?
"Well, what do you want to be? I also said you could be a robot or a flamingo." I reminded him.
He stared at me for a few long seconds. "Mom. No way. You said I could be Nemo. I want to be Nemo, and Zoe is Dory."
"Well, Ian, here's the deal. We don't have a Nemo costume right now."
He smiled and patted me, "That's ok. We'll buy it at the grocery shop."
Of course, I couldn't help but laugh, but had to be realistic, "Ian, they don't have Nemo costumes at the grocery shop." He glared at me. So I quickly began thinking aloud, "Buuuut, they probably have orange shirts and stuff. If we're quick, I guess we could make one."
Ian was elated! "Yep! You're right!"
We all got dressed and headed to the store. I'm big on doing what I say, all the time...and I didtell him he could be Nemo. My backup plan? Honestly? Printing out a picture of Nemo and taping it to his shirt. Don't judge. You'd do it to make your child happy too.
Of course, every other time we have been to the store, they have had 10 billion different orange shirts and pants. After all, 'tis the season for orange anything. But nooooo, not this time. After walking around the clothing section for the 15th time, I was about to call it. Suddenly, Ian practically leapt out of the cart and grabbed a shirt off the clearance rack. "MOM! It's my Nemo shirt!" And it sure was.
Ian reminded me, "Nemo needs a tail, too." So, I grabbed some foam to make their tails. Sure hope this works. I had no idea what I was doing, I will be the first to admit. And somehow, it did.
Before this post turns into a full on book, I'll leave off with some pictures. But not before saying how much I truly enjoyed the night, hearing Ian tell anyone that would listen, "I'm Nemo. My sister is Dory. My mom is our jellyfish." (He told me I had to be something from Finding Nemo, and I spotted the pink tutu across the room. Sometimes, I can be kind of quick on my feet).
And my fault on the bad pictures. I handed Matt the camera with the auto focus off. Oops. Hopefully, you could still find Nemo. :)
No comments:
Post a Comment