[caption id="attachment_1346" align="alignnone" width="225" caption="Ready to watch"]
[/caption]Here are some of the best reasons I love watching Lady and the Tramp with my two-year-old:
Laura loves puppies. She is ecstatic watching all these cute puppies flouce all over the screen. There is a dog in every single scene. Unlike in Finding Nemo when Laura freaks out when a clown fish is not on view, Laura is happy with whatever puppy she sees. She is particularly enthralled with the "choo-choo-waura" (chihuahua) in the pound.
[caption id="attachment_1347" align="alignnone" width="225" caption="The scawy pawt"]
[/caption]The scariest parts of the movie are a fight between Tramp and some pitbulls, and a fight between Tramp and the rat. I had forgotten the pitbull fight, but it's over in a minute and is mostly done in shadow. I was fearing the rat fight... till I saw it again. OMG, the rat is hysterical. It squeaks like the squeaker on a dog toy every time Tramp pounces on it! I burst into laughter during our first viewing, and Laura hasn't been a bit bothered by the "siwwy mowse" once.
Laura has drawn comparisons between dogs on the screen and dogs she knows in real life. For instance, Jock "wooks wike Pippi!" Pippi is my parents West Highland Terrier - a white version of Jock. I was pretty impressed that my toddler was able to draw a comparitive connection between a two similar dogs.
Lady becomes a big sister to a crying baby. Laura is about to become a big sister to a crying baby. We have talked a lot about the baby in Darling's tummy that is born and cries. We talk about baby Gavin in my tummy who will be born soon. We have sung the "La La Lu" lullaby to baby dolls and my tummy. We talk about how Gavin will take a lot of my time, but I will still always have time for my Laura.
We learned a new lullaby to sing to Gavin when he is born. Rock-a-bye Baby has been getting a bit old, and Laura really likes singing "wa wa wu."
Those naughty cats are just too funny. But also, cats are naughty, which is why we have a doggie for a pet. Laura is now calling our house her "domicile." Vocabulary FTW.
Laura really likes the part where Jock and Trusty use their noses to sniff out the wagon. She asked why they were sniffing, which led to a great discussion on how people look for things and how dogs look for things. I wasn't sure how much of our conversation sunk in until a car ride home from school. Laura threw her typical we're-halfway-home-on-our-normal-route tantrum. I asked Laura to look at the window and tell me when she saw our house (seriously kid, we're 4 minutes away). Laura looks out the window and starts wildly sniffing. Laura, are you ok?? "I sniffin' Waura's house wike a puppy!" She sniffed the whole ride home, where we immediately pressed play on the DVD.
[caption id="attachment_1349" align="alignnone" width="225" caption=""Why, everybody knows a dog's best friend is his human." -Trusty"]
[/caption]We have had so much fun together "watchin' puppies." I am astounded by all the knowledge Laura has taken from this sweet and simple movie. This has been a far more enjoyable and educational TV experience than anything Dora or Diego have offered. I can't imagine a better movie for a two-year-old.
