Baby Mine

Ever since Lilli was born, I've sung/hummed/played the song Baby Mine from Dumbo, as a lullaby to her when ever she's going to sleep or just needed a good quiet hug.  Sometimes it would be a few weeks before she wanted to hear it again, but she always remembers it as her favorite snuggle song.  I'm not sure why I picked that song as "our" song, but it just came to mind when she was born and it has always felt perfect.

This afternoon, I showed Lilli a video of the memorable scene.  When it ended, she looked at me with a tearful expression and asked "what happened to mommy?" She started to cry, I started to cry. I didn't know what to say. I was so caught off guard, I couldn't come up with the words to explain it.  I was sad, that scene had so much meaning to me, more now as a mother, than it did when I was a kid.

When I finally caught up with my thoughts I blurted out between sobs, "it's ok! Dumbo learns to fly with his ears and saves his mommy!" She looked at me, sobbing still too, and said "Dumbo cry cause he misses his mommy?" Yes, I told her, sometimes Dumbo cries when he misses his mommy.  To help her understand that we all have emotions, even bad ones, I tell her it's o.k. to feel bad sometimes.  And it's a good thing to understand the bad feelings just as much the good ones.  It's important for her to know that life isn't all roses and daffodils all the time.  And she stopped crying.  We decided to watch it later together and watch the full movie.

Later, as I was getting her ready and tucking her in, she said to me "It's ok, sometimes. Sometimes, Dumbo cry cause he misses his mommy... Sometimes." It made my heart ache a little, seeing her grow up so fast, understanding so much. It makes me a little sad that she's old enough to see the world for what it really is... how hard life is, and sometimes.... sometimes, it is just sad.

Update: We watched the movie and Dave came home to us curled up sobbing together.  After it was over, we had a long talk about Dumbo being sad from missing his mommy.  And how he and his mommy were together again so he wasn't sad anymore.  Because "Sometimes we get sad."