My Lili Bear

I'm not a huge Sofia Coppola fan, but sometimes she really says something in her movies that I haven't heard before. Lost in Translation is one of those movies. I'm not a super great movie critic nor am I really great at analizing movies, but on occasion, I like to analize, especially with movies such as Lost in Translation. I can't recommend the movie to anyone because it has some nudey parts that were just not needed, unless she was trying to say that all men are dogs and after one thing--in that case, she said it loudly and clearly. But other parts were hauntingly right on. But I'm rambling. The reason I bring it up is because there's a great line Bill Murray's character says when Scarlett Johanson's character asks him about what it's like to have children. He says, "Your life, as you know it... is gone. Never to return. But they learn how to walk, and they learn how to talk... and you want to be with them. And they turn out to be the most delightful people you will ever meet in your life." That's how I feel about my children.

Yesterday, I took my girls to the movies, Transformers to be exact. I'm not sure I've ever had so much fun at a movie. The girls were enthralled. Lilia has a best friend who is a boy. And Lilia knows that Bracken likes the Transformers. So she was carefully watching the movie as if so she could discuss it with Bracken later. She said to me, "I'm going to tell Bracken that I saw Transformers at the movies." Then later she'd ask me, "Who were the good guys again?" I'd tell her, "the Autobots." And she'd say, "And who were the bad guys?" "The Decepticons." She asked me those questions all the way home, each time trying hard to remember the names. Maybe it's a stage, but I really hope my girls always stay as cool as they are now. They love being with us, and we love being with them. I hope they don't become teenagers who think they're too cool to be with their parents.

Later we went to dinner, and Lilia kept saying she was having so much fun. I just want to live in those moments. I did catch a quick glimpse of what the teenage years might look like, however, this summer at Lagoon. I took Lilia and some of her older cousins to stand in line to ride The Bat (or whatever it was called), a family friendly roller coaster. While in line, I was teaching all my nieces and nephews some of my sweet dance moves I learned in the 90s. I whipped out the Roger Rabbit, Silly Feet, the Running Man--I was really grooving. I look over at Lilia and her face is bright red. She puts her arms out and tries to stop me from dancing. She starts pulling me and says, "Mom, come over here. Come stand by me over here." I think she was embarrassed. Embarrassed. Of me. Can you believe it? She's 4. I thought the nieces and nephews thought I was cool, but maybe I wasn't. Well, if Lilia is going to get embarrassed by my dancing, wait until she's a teenager. You'd better believe I'm volunteering to chaperone her prom. And then I'm bringing out the big guns: the moon walk. Aaah yeah.