Wednesday, March 29, 2006

Our Young Care for Their Own

Tonight, for the second night in a row, Ethan has been traumatized by a music video that plays right after our TIVOed version of The Wiggles. It is Dan Zanes, "Hello hello." It is by all accounts a seemingly harmless song about endless possibilities and being a welcoming spirit. It's warm and fuzzy.

Last night, all was fine for Ethan until a scene appeared showing three doors, each opening in turn to reveal a lion, a bird and an elephant (all waving kindly to one another, mind you). Ethan burst into tears and between sobs gasped, "raar" - "lion." Now, our home is no stranger to lions of all types, since Abby has an obsession with them. Ethan has never been afraid of any of the big cats before. To be honest, the lion in this video is actually rather cute and is even smiling. But something about it didn't sit right with Ethan.

Tonight, as soon as the video started, Ethan broke into sobs and started shaking. We stopped the video immediately, but Ethan needed cuddling and the reassurance of his big sister.

Abby plopped down next to him. "Don't worry, Ethan. It's OK." But Ethan was still upset. So Abby, in her infinite wisdom, disappeared into the toy room. She reappeared with her largest stuffed lion in tow. Holding him up to Ethan, she said, "Raaar!" And then she surprised us all. She made the lion kiss Ethan all over the face. "See, Ethan. Lion nice."

I'm in awe of Abby's deep love and concern for her brother. I can definitely learn a thing or two from my daughter.

2 comments:

Jennifer said...

Go Abby! What a caring and loving young lady! Kudos to her parents for raising her.

Anonymous said...

Abby to the rescue! I'm just concerned that Ethan saw something in that "innocent" cartoon lion that no one else could see. Something hidden. Something waiting. Something EVIL...