Ben, meet movies

It began in December, when on a whim, I decided to let Ben stay up with me and watch Meet Me in St. Louis. He thought it was odd at first, but soon he was absorbed. Next came It's a Wonderful Life. He liked that one even more than the last. I could tell he enjoyed the time. Now, I couldn't say if that's because he truly liked the movies or because he got to stay up late occasionally while his brothers slept, or a combination of both. But soon he was asking for more.

My next choice was The Sound of Music. We sat on the couch under the same blanket and commented on the beauty of Austria, giggled at the marionette scene. Admittedly, Ben likes the movie parts and is quite skeptical about the music parts in the movies I choose. He sighs a bit and rolls his eyes every time a character breaks into song. And he most definitely does not like shared kisses between Capt. Von Trapp and Fraulein Maria, Rolfe and Liesl.

I'm sure some of these movies must be quite puzzling for Ben, as they were made well before even my time, and well, well before his. He asks lots of questions, and I hope he can learn something from parts of the movies like the run on the bank at the Building and Loan in It's a Wonderful Life and "why is Capt. Von Trapp so angry when those guys put up that flag at the party?" My parents introduced us to a lot of older movies when we were kids, and it's a pleasure to carry that on with Ben now.

A couple weeks ago, out of the blue, Ben said, "I really like the movies you like, Mom." It warmed my heart, and naturally I added more titles to our queue. We watched the old Parent Trap last weekend, a movie that was an old favorite of mine but that Mark always calls "weird." (Side note: upon watching it again after many years, I see his point a little bit.) Ben liked that one, as there was minimal singing.

Old movies really are a pretty safe bet for kids. No need to worry about lots of cursing or sex - though the movie we're currently working our way through - My Fair Lady - has quite a lot of "damns." Clocking in at 170 minutes, I can tell that though Ben has been sucked into the storyline, My Fair Lady is challenging him a bit. "How can it still have so much left?" he wondered yesterday after we'd hit the two-hour mark and I told him there still was a fair amount to go.

I'm loving this time with Ben, and I keep coming up with more and more films to share with him. Who knows? Onto Oklahoma and South Pacific next? We'll see. That may be pushing my luck. Best to intersperse some non-musicals in there, perhaps.