Mamma Mia!!!!

I have not been a very good blogger. I know this is true when I read all of the wonderful blogs being written.

So, here I am on a Saturday night, sitting in front of my laptop, searching for fabric to make a handbag for my daughter, Kristen. My search took me all over Etsy, Facebook and the world of blogs. Sometimes the blogs I see are so intimidating, as I always have a hard time thinking about a topic.

And so, I repeat, here I am on a Saturday night with not only the laptop, but our television in front of me. Which brings me to my thoughts: Mamma Mia!!!

The movie, Mamma Mia, is on cable for the first time. Now I have watched this movie countless times! Probably, 3 times in its entirety and about 93 times is fragments. And I know these ABBA songs better now than when I listened to ABBA back in the day!

The reason? The reason is my granddaughter, Kate. And, Kate is 2 years old! Kate is a happy little girl who has an uncanny love for movies with great music (or animals). Kate was first interested in the Buddies movies- you know- Air, Snow and finally Space Buddies. She then discovered Disney and the like: King (as in Lion), Panda (as in KungFu), Bolt, Monsters, Inc. She enjoyed them each immensely. Then she saw Mamma Mia for the first time. Oh, goodness! She must have watched it a hundred times.
She knew the songs, and had all the moves, even using her sunglasses as a handheld microphone. She entertained the family with her little performances. We each had the soundtrack in the car to listen to her sing along!

We flew to Charlotte NC in May to visit her Uncle Brian and her Aunt Sue. Who would expect that a 2 year old would sit quietly in the plane seat the whole way! The only noise I heard from my seat, 2 rows ahead of Kate and her Mommy and Daddy, was Kate laughing and singing Dancing Queen, Super Trouper and Honey, Honey! Just pure enjoyment!

Yes, we were concerned that she might not need to know about the adult content in the movie. But she is 2, for goodness sakes!

Sadly (?), Kate is just not that into Mamma Mia anymore. She had moved on to Keck and Keck 2 (Shrek and Shrek 2). Loved Princess Fiona and was always talking about the dragon (don't know the name). They, too, have been knocked down a peg or two. But now,happily, Kate is into Mary Poppins (she loves when the nannies blow away and sings Let's Go Fly a Kite).

Watching Mary Poppins conjures up my childhood memory of seeing it for the first time on my birthday when it opened 45 years ago at Radio City Music Hall. That was when films were the main attraction there, other than the Rockettes.

We predict that the musical, Annie, will be taking center stage in the near future, as Kate has been introduced to it this past week. Variety is the spice of life, after all. This variety is, of course, for the preservation of Kate's parents, my daughter, Kristen and her husband, Jay.

I don't want you to think that Kate is not exposed to children's music or to children's books. It is surely not the case. I think her all time favorite is still BaaBaa Black Sheep with Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. (And did you know that they are really the same tune?? As is the Alphabet song?) And she loves Clifford the big red dog! Below, is Kate!

This week, I have been teaching Kate the Spaghetti version of On top of Old Smokey. I never loved the Smokey version. And Kate clearly appreciates the humor in most anything, so a Meatball rolling out the door is right up her alley!

Who knows what next week will bring!

To the right, is Kate, with her Mommy, Kristen at the Outer Banks, last summer