heffalumps, woozles, and nemo

2.04.2015

in a welcome turn of events, august has broadened his taste in movies beyond finding nemo. do not be mistaken, the little fish still gets preferential treatment, but now he tolerates a couple of other movies. actually, "tolerate" doesn't give the new additions enough credit because he actually really likes them. i am therefor happy to report that our catalog has expanded to: the toy story trilogy (praise sequels!), the many adventures of winnie the pooh, and soooometimes a scene of two from ice age (mostly the ones with the squirrel and his allusive acorn. august had a thing for ah-corns back in the fall)

we probably let him watch too much tv. 

anyway, my sister and her family came up to visit last weekend and in an effort to do something special with the kids whilst keeping them in from blustery cold, we took them to the museum of natural history. we saw heffalumps and wozzles, [pooh] bears and tiggers, nemo's and dori's, we DID NOT see any buzz's or woody's, but august did just recently get his very own space ranger that talks, karate-chops, and who, by the way, CAN fly. 
for having grown up and lived so near to d.c. most my life, i have been downtown a shamefully few amount of times. the smithsonian institute is incredible. all these gorgeous museums open and available to the public for free?! one day, when i have disposable income pouring out of my ears, i am going to donate a hefty sum to it's foundation. that and npr. i wear my nerd badge proudly.
we have recently started speaking in whale with august (like dori does in the nemo movie?) it's the cutest thing. it all started on the drive home from his daycare one night when i was asking him how his day went. to my surprise, he answered back with indistinguishable wails and moans. THEN at the museum, we saw this big guy at the entrance of the marine exhibit and i was like, "mmmoo... auguuuuust, whaaaat is thaaaaat?" and he whispered "ballena" in awe before belting out a shrill "mmmoooooowaaaaah...eeeeyuuu" 

some people might consider such an outing to be like a unusual form of punishment - i'm pretty sure both andy and my brother-in-law felt that way during the thirty minutes my sister and i left them alone with the children while we grabbed a bite to eat at the cafe - but to me, it was almost like taking a trip to another world. sure, there were hundreds of other people and children (ours included) were running around with little regard for anything other than their present whimsy, but to be there with august - to try and see it through his eyes - was like seeing all his favorite characters come to life.

22 comments:

Kaylan Buteyn said...

so sweet! glad you had a good trip. Having DC close would be awesome!

Fiona Harding said...

Oh yeah, I love museums, I definitely have the geek inside of me and how cute about the whale noises - eep!

Hollands reverie said...

I'm so jealous of all of that so close! That would be amazing. Cracks me up that your little man loves finding nemo- my wilds have never gotten all the way thru it without getting scared and crying:) that he speaks whale, is probably the best thing ever.

www.hollandsreverie.blogspot.com

Petra said...

too cute, that last picture. i'm glad you are having a good time with the family. and yes, take advantage of all the museums and whatever else is on offer around you xoxo

Erin said...

Proof that Finding Nemo crosses all age borders: on Saturday night, my friend Herbie (mid-20s) dropped the line, "I speak whale!" into casual conversation and we were all in stitches. I don't begrudge August even a little bit for being so enamored with that movie! Though I am happy he likes Winnie the Pooh, too. That who series was my FAVORITE growing up. Not sure if you can find it, but Disney Channel in the early 90s used to have a tv series of the Adventures, only everything was acted out by humans in large character suits. Like mascots. It was amazing. Heffalumps and woozles!!
Also, major, major credit for taking him to the museum! The earlier you instill the awesomeness of those spaces in him, the better ;) You wonderful mama, you. xo

Christine D. | The Plumed Nest said...

those are the exact same movies that my children loved at that age!! though i'd have to move ice age to the top of that list. now they are pretty over them. i would groan and moan putting them on over and over at the time, but now i find myself saying "but it's winnie the pooh!! you loooooove winnie the pooh" and they are like 'nope, i want to watch teen titans.'

this looks like an amazing day. i just adore that age and seeing the world through your kids eyes, making things they love, like nemo come to life. such precious moments.

ps not going to the smithsonian when i was in dc is one of my biggest regrets in life!

xoxo

Hannah Smith | fox and willow said...

we have some pooh bear lovers over here too, also Cars... That little trip looks so fun, that's crazy it's open for free!

melaniekay said...

I love these pictures! It looks like such a cool museum!
Melanie @ meandmr.com

Jade Lee Wright said...

Awww I bet your little guy loved it!! So important to treat them to things like this! It fascinates them and keeps their creativity and imagination so strong! :)
Gorgeous!!


New follower! Hope to keep in touch xxx


www.bohemianmuses.blogspot.com

Amy S. said...

You guys are lucky, I want to go to D.C. and see the Smithsonian so badly!! Definitely on my list of places to visit in the near future.
And heffalumps and woozles! Winnie the Pooh was my sister's absolute favorite when she was little. We still have our old VHS tapes of all the movies, the books, etc... :-)

lucinda said...

multilingual, this kid. ;)

lucinda said...

we must let our geek flags fly! xo

lucinda said...

you, my talented friend, would've taken dozens of even more gorgeous pictures there, i'm sure. :D

lucinda said...

first, HERBIE rules!
next, what IS this show you speak of? are you telling me they actually had actors dressed heffalump and woozle suits? that *would* be amazing. i need to hunt it down!
and yes, yes, yes! the more we can expose him to art and history and books and music (and maybe a little less tv) the richer his childhood will be - at least that is my hope! thank you sweet friend. xo

lucinda said...

it's pretty impressive how stories cross all kinds of boundaries like that - different child, different place, different time, but same connection and appeal.

man, but if it were up to andy, ice age would be further up on the list too. he LOVES syd the sloth. ha!

this age really is special, but each stage so far has had it's own unique revelation. i wonder what those discoveries will be at age 4 or 10 or 16!



pss not seeing or doing something when you visit a place is the best reason go back - next time, i'll take you on a tour and by then i will know the smithsonian even better. deal?

lucinda said...

hey jade, welcome! i completely agree with you that experiences like trip to the museum are so important for fostering that creative spirit in children. thanks for reading. :)

Valerie (Our Ruins) said...

Wonderful post...it sounds like such a great visit to the museum! Beautiful photos too!

Christine D. | The Plumed Nest said...

deal!

ursula @ Nothern Ambitions said...

Happy to hear your movie repertoire is expanding. Nemo is good but I can only imagine it gets somewhat old after a while :) I miss being able to go to museums but I do remember frequenting them as a kid. Such fun

Lauren said...

We're not too far from DC (2.5 hours, maybe?) and we don't get there often enough. We're museume-y people and love going, but it's tricky to get up there for some reason. And now there's a train. Add it to the summer list, darn it.

And here's something weird, my son never, ever wanted to watch Finding Nemo. Can you believe it?

sydni said...

i love that last picture -- capturing a beautiful and natural moment :)

Zanna's Sky said...

I love the natural history museum in dc any day of the week, but going with kids is such a special experience! And I'm glad your little one is expanding his movie repetoire...Find Nemo is great, but exhausting the millionth time ;P

 

© current tempo All rights reserved . Design by Blog Milk Powered by Blogger