We don’t watch a lot of movies. Partly because we are without that whole TV thing, partially because I’m indifferent to many movies, and partially because there is too much other stuff to do.  But every now and then when John is away and Clara goes to sleep early Ivy and I have “girl night.” We’ve done different things but most often we paint toenails and watch movies. It used to be that we could choose from a variety of movies, Beauty and the Beast, Shrek, Toy Story, Milo and Otis… but now Ivy has become terrified of anything scary and refuses to watch any of those. Our choices have dwindled to a leapfrog video that if I hear again I might be forced to smash with a hammer and Seabiscuit. Seabiscuit is a great movie, Ivy loves the horses and the racing, but it’s not all exactly four year old material.

Last movie night we watched Secretariat.  It was a good move, nothing scary, lots of horses, lots of racing, and most importantly nothing a four year old shouldn’t see.  It was a welcome change to see Ivy shaking with excitement instead of fear while we watched.

The races were by far her favorite and she gave me a running commentary on every one. They went something like this:

Mom who is going to win?

Mom the blue one (Secretariat) is in the back.

Now he’s running faster mom

Oh he’s going so fast!

Look, Look he’s beatin’ those horses.

He won Mom, aren’t you so excited?!??!

After it was done she was full of questions about the people and the horse wanting to know if we could see him and if he was real. Here is part of the conversation that followed:

Me: Secretariat was a real horse, but he lived a long time ago.

Ivy: A long time ago before I was born?

Me: Yup, a long time ago before I was born!

Ivy: You mean when there were dinosaurs?

They say kids age you but I had no idea by how much!