Easter Sarcasm

Go to iTunes!

Are you dying to see a Rideout film?  Now you can!  Wait for Rain is now on iTunes!  Yippee!

https://itunes.apple.com/ca/movie/wait-for-rain/id616328099

Tell It Like It Is

Remember how Esmé likes to call out inappropriate things in public?  Well it happened again.  This time even worse.

We were sitting in MacDonald's eating ice cream (yes, macdonald's, are you shocked? well we go for ice cream okay?  i love their cones and so does esme. we are not ashamed.)  Anyway... A very old man walked by us very slowly with his walker squeaking along the tile floor.  Esmé watched him for a second and then pointed and declared, "Mommy, that man is going to die soon!"

My heart was in my throat.  But the man kept walking slowly along, maybe too deaf to hear, or maybe crying a little inside.  We will never know.

The Kyle Chronicles

There are two questions that I get asked fairly often which usually result in me staring off into space, wondering how to formulate an answer.  The first, from a new acquaintance, "And what does your husband do for a living?" And the second, from everyone else, "So what is Kyle up to these days?"

"Well... you know... stuff."  This is me trying to stall as I decide how much information the person actually wants to know.

So I'll give you point form, and if you want more, just click!

• Doing final the revisions on his Eadweard screenplay
• Casting for Eadweard the film, shooting this summer
• Film Pre-production on Eadweard (budgeting, hiring crew, meeting lawyers, contacting investors, re-writing, interviewing, more hiring, visualizing, storyboarding, location scouting, and on and on and...)
• Talking to news magazines
• Getting more press, and more, e di piu
• Being the weekly voice of a cute lizard
• Voice over for a few other animations which haven't been released yet
• Sending his second feature film screenplay to production companies (title and subject not yet released!)
• Writing a third feature film screenplay based on a Canadian novel (also a secret!)
• Applying for funding for his TV pilot (you guessed it... a secret!)
• Auditioning for film, TV, theatre, and voice acting
• Writing film grant proposals
• Keeping up with his short films Hop the Twig and Wait for Rain which are still touring the world film festivals and winning way to many awards.
• Teaching Shakespeare to kids in schools
• Travelling to Philadelphia, Toronto, and LA for film research, meetings with investors, and interviewing with agents. (No links but a few photos for you.)

All this and he still makes time for diaper changes, story time, wrestling, cooking breakfast, running errands, doing laundry and dishes, and cuddling with all three of his "girls."

Superman?  I think so.

(Don't forget to check out the Motion58 blog for periodic Kyle updates.)

Play

Out for a walk

Sunny days at the park

Ice skating Lego

Learning to recognize numbers with our adapted cake walk game. 

Baby doll gets carried in her sling quite a bit, gets rocked, nursed, her diaper changed, and put to bed.  Such a good little mama.

Challenging Society's Norms

I love how children come into our world in a completely neutral state, with no judgements or expectations of behaviour.  And here is a great example.

Esmé and I were sitting in Subway.  It happened to be the one next to the police station so several times police officers would come in and pick up some lunch.  Every time Esmé saw them she would shout out, "Look Mommy, a police man!"  Or "Look Mommy, a police woman!" And every time the officer would give a smile, or chat a little to her.

Then...

A man walked in who was overweight.  And so, in following suit, she shouted out, "Look Mommy, that man is fa..." and I did my best, oh I tried so hard, to shush her as fast as I could while giving her the huge eyes and furrowed brow of 'you-better-quit-talking-if-you-know-what's-good-for-you'.

But it was too late.  It was out of her mouth for all to hear.

The unfortunate man did not turn around. And all I could do was hope that he was too busy deciding between mustard or mayo to hear the little girl in the booth behind him.

Meanwhile, that little girl looked at me with confusion wrapped in innocence and asked, "Why did you tell me to shhh?"
"Well, because we don't say things like that to people."
"Why?"
"Umm, well, I guess because maybe he doesn't want to be fat.  And when someone says that he's fat, then he might feel bad."
"But why doesn't he want to be fat?  Why would he feel bad about that?"
"That's a good question.  I'm not really sure."

I could have gone into societal expectations and norms and images of beauty which are engrained in our brains from, well, I guess from the time we are three.  But that is a lesson that I don't want to teach. I want my girl to love people for being people, and to love herself for being herself for as long as possible.  And through her non-judgemental, innocent mind, she can begin to peel away all my judgements that I didn't even realize were there, and maybe I can also love people just for being people.

Epilogue:
At dinner a few nights ago Esmé proclaimed, "I'm going to eat a lot because I want to be fat!"
I said, "Oh, and why do you want to be fat?"
"Because I just like it."

And there you have it.  Still free to decide for herself what she likes, before everyone else decides for her.