Lion Thinking

Speaking of Disney movies, of course, we also used to watch "The Lion King" all the time. It was interesting watching a one - maybe two - year old being able to follow along with the plot. I was amazed that he was able to recognize that Young Simba and Adult Simba were the same character. I worried that the death of the cub's father Mufasa would devastate him (spoiler alert!). He seemed worried and sad and said something like, "He has a boo boo". I do wish I had written a blog about it at the time because I can't remember his exact words.

And of course, he loved all the music as well. And yeah, he watched it so many times that he memorized the lines. 

When my son first started talking, it felt really good hearing him talk. When He was a baby, I had been wondering what his voice would sound like. It felt really sweet to hear him say "Daddy". At first, it was like "Dayee" until eventually he was able to pronounce it correctly. It felt very good to have my child recognize me and utter those two syllables: Daddy. 

Until he watched "The Lion King". There is this scene where the young cub runs up to Mufasa yelling over and over, "Dad, Dad, Dad, Dad, Dad!" And guess what, my son imitates it. And instead of me being Daddy, I was now "Dad". 

It just sounds grown up to me. Toddlers should call you "Daddy". Not Dad. That's what teenagers call their fathers. The two-syllable Daddy had such sweetness to it.

No fair.