In the book, a girl and her Abuela (Grandma) fly around NYC. They visit the Statue of Liberty.
For the past two weeks, it has been all about Dr. LaBootie. Hours and hours, and days and days, of questions. If you think about it, it is a hard thing to explain. "Mommy, Dr. LaBootie she is a woman?" "Lijoch (children) fall out of her head?" "Climb up her?" I posted on Facebook that I was having a hard time explaining the concept to Meazi. Here are some things that people suggested:From Ms. Woo: Tell her she's the nation's first recognized drag queen. At least, that will be my starting point.
From Blueberry's Mom: Social studies teacher says she is America's false promise.
From Marc: Giant Walmart greeter welcoming all imported folks from around the world.
I have witty friends.
Still, I wasn't getting anywhere. After four days we had finally established that The Statue of Liberty was not a real woman. This was a big step. However, we had a setback. DISCLAIMER: I sound exasperated here, but days before we had already established that she was not a real woman! I am usually really nice to her.
When Meazi heard that mommy and daddy had actually been to the Statue of Liberty together, she really wanted to see pictures.Unfortunately the person we asked to take our picture there, took a picture of the brick wall at the base of Lady Liberty. We could have been in an alley in east Los Angeles. Not a helpful picture. Not at all.
I pulled up every YouTube video I could find, but really they weren't great. Finally, this weekend we went to the library and got two books for kids about the statue. We also picked up Ken Burns' documentary.
Dad made burgers, and we had a special lunchtime viewing in the living room.
The movie wasn't great. Meazi was really interested in seeing the inside of the statue, "Stairs in her stomach mommy?" In the film, when they actually bring the camera into the statue, it is all in fast forward (Is that what the Ken Burns effect is? Truly annoying). Steven kept trying to freeze the frames so that we could give Meazi a realistic view of what it is like. Sigh.
Still, the movie and the books seemed to help Meazi grasp the size and breadth of the statue. She seemed to have a firmer grasp on the whole concept.
Until Steven decided to send us this picture from work ...
How the hell do I explain this?
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hahahahahaha...thwarted by your own ally!!!! I'm going to check into my social studies films and see if i can come up with something for you.
ReplyDeleteTell her the Statue of Liberty is like Santa Clause - the "real" one lives in NY and is very busy greeting visitors, but she sends her little helpers out in case people want to take pictures with her...
ReplyDeleteomg, it is hellish and I just cannot hold back from the truth. Explaining these kinds of things to this kind of kid with the need to KNOW, to UNDERSTAND, it is just hell. At least what my kid is obsessed with, The Walkway over the Hudson, is close enough to my house to visit and he can wrap his mind around it better with the visual. But in order for her to really understand, will she have to see it? What a difficult thing to explain! Damn you, Dr. LaBootie. And damn you Walkway over the Hudson. There I said it. I feel your pain. I do!
ReplyDeleteI can offer you no advice...but I can tell you that the same bad photographer took our picture there too.
ReplyDeleteSuper funny! Really hilarious-- especially since it exasperates you so! Only laughing at you b/c I am at my wits end with "Mommy, are you van?"
ReplyDeleteHave you tried telling her that Dr. LaBootie is a "batam tilik ashangooleet?" (really big doll)?
Sorry, I'm just laughing!
HA HA HA HA HA HA! Oh my gosh. This totally made my day.
ReplyDeletewould it help or hurt if you bought her a Dr. LaBootie costume? I saw one while looking for on sale costumes and thought of you. Maybe it would only further the obsession
ReplyDeleteyou could try Google maps & street view... someone alos showed me bing.com maps and there you can get a unique 'bird's eye view'.
ReplyDeletekeep SLO away from that woman she's been all over the place!!
This post makes me happy! My husband (boyfriend at the time) had a miniature Dr. Labootie in his apartment complex like the one yo man is next to in this pic. Haha! Good luck sister!
ReplyDeleteSo funny. We too had someone take a rather super unexact photo of us in front of the Statue of Liberty. There we are, Craig and I, with a big block in the background and nothing of the Lady presented in the photo. Sigh. Ergo, our photo won't help or I would send it to you. Oh, but now that I think of it, I've got a good one of Craig on the ferry with her majesty behind him, will try to find it....(although by that time you will probably have plenty of good resources)...
ReplyDeleteCindy
Hahahaha, thanks Steven :)
ReplyDeleteDo you have a park in LA with some big statues? Maybe a visit would give M a better concept of a "person" made of marble, etc.
ReplyDeleteHahaha! You have me laughing! The last photo is just hysterical! Good luck explaining it all over again...
ReplyDeleteI have no suggestions - I am stuck in my minute by minute question quagmire myself.
ReplyDeleteHowever, of course I still have a few things to say. First of all, you're usually nicer to her???? We laughed and snorted and said, obviously Julie has never yelled at her children if that's being not nice.
And, your little girl there? Amazing language skills.
Cracking up right now. Thank you for brightening my Monday!
ReplyDeleteDoes she know anything about boats and the scale thereof?
ReplyDeleteHow about this: http://shopping.artofthesouth.com/p-800-the-grand-lady-by-rod-chase.aspx
i'm with alice. spend some time with some other hungry sculpture people. if that doesn't work at least you can have some other characters to talk about.
ReplyDeleteNot sure what to tell her, but wanted to say we actually have (and love) that same book and her English is developing so quickly (even though her grasp of this particular concept may be too slow in coming for you)! Also, I loved your post about the huge garden tool that Steve got for your daughter...particularly the comment about your Montessori mom recommended real tools. As the parent of two Montessori kids, I agree that she probably meant blunt scissors (though they do give our 4-yr-old a needle and thread).
ReplyDeleteThat's hilarious! And I just bought that book last week! We're using as reference in a class I am taking!
ReplyDeleteThis is so funny and wonderful, Julie. Every time you post about M or, even better, I get to see her with my own eyes, I get excited about our family.
ReplyDeleteI love the idea of google streetview. And I love that you're already showing your kids Ken Burns documentaries.
ah ha ha ha!! All that work....gone...fell right out of Dr. Labootie's Head!
ReplyDeleteha... too funny. Good Luck;)
ReplyDeleteHearing her say "Dr. LaBootie" is making me laugh over and over again. She looks so concerned and confused. Wow! I love that book, my mom read it to the kids at Metanoia. I might hold off on reading it to A though ... who knew! Hee, hee! Sorry to laugh!
ReplyDeleteCan't. Stop. Laughing. So cute! I will now always and forever think of the Statue of Liberty as Dr. Labootie. More fun that way.
ReplyDeleteAnd, if that is exasperated... well, let's just say you don't sound exasperated to me. :)
That last picture just killed me. Steven, you are in so much trouble when you get home...
ReplyDeleteoh the endless questions... they led a friend of mine & I to ask each other why on EARTH we were so eager for the kids to learn English. Hee.
dr. labootie!!!! O.k., THAT just made my day!!!
ReplyDeleteThat is hilarious...what is funny is there is a Dr. Labutti here that I use a lot for my patients. I will have to start calling him Statue of Liberty:-) She is so cute!
ReplyDeletehahahahaha - thank you, thank you. i so needed that laugh. i love it.
ReplyDeleteOh this is too funny!!!! Might as well just let her think she is alive! So what? She's going to think it anyway! Might as well feel good about it! :) Tell her you will go to NY and feed Dr.LaBootie some injera and Dr.LaBootie will share it will all the children coming out of her head. That is what I would do. :)
ReplyDeleteBut I'm a little weird. I explained to all my kids from the get-go how Santa isn't real, and the tooth fairy is a fantasy, etc. etc. but they INSIST on believing. So, I figure, as long I've already explained CLEARLY the reality part, might as well then go ahead and play with the fantasy part and make them happy.
I adore her little accent on the video, it is so incredibly cute it makes me cry. She sounds like she is speaking Amharic until you listen carefully and hear the English words in there. Beautiful. Sweet.
Steven and the stature. THAT is hilarious. I'm dying here. Great, great post.
I love me a good drag queen. Coincidently, that's my DG name: Dr. LaBootie. Well, Lady LaBootie, but we're in the same ballpark.
ReplyDeleteI came back for more! How sick is that? Again, I hate to laugh at something that is frustrating for you, but your inquisitive girl just cracks me up in that video. I liked the idea of showing her other statues to get the concept. Good night now... I promise not to come back and watch this video ... today.
ReplyDeletegood luck with that. it took zinabu the better part of a year to grasp what a mountain lion was. not part lion/part mountain. not a lion jumping out of a mountain. not even a lion living in mountians. and don't even get me started about the fact that one of the library books i got for him said "the mountain lion, or puma, or cougar--as they are sometimes called." i about had a stroke. #$(*&#@
ReplyDeleteif nothing else, i will forever look at the statue of liberty and want to call her Dr. LaBootie, which suggest she has a rich, ghetto background.
Does Steven have a cruel streak?
ReplyDeleteJenny, in his defense he e-mailed it to me and said,"You may or may not want to show it to her." How could I resist?
ReplyDeleteWhat an inquisitive, intelligent little gem your daughter is! This post is adorable. I guess this is what parenthood is all about; right? I think she will just have to see Dr. LaBootie for herself.
ReplyDeletei'm back again too- seriously, Meazi fan club??? these videos are priceless. she is just so amazing!!! can you track how many times we have all watched keep on truckin'/coupon truckin'? dr. labootie!!! i can't handle it- so giggly my co-workers are looking at me.
ReplyDeleteI just want you to know that all of your blog readers will forever refer to the Statue of Liberty as Dr. LaBootie. And that makes me laugh. :)
ReplyDeleteThere is something romantic, beautiful and profound that she is so fascinated by Dr. LaBootie...but then I am not the one that has "all the explain'in to do."
ReplyDelete;)