All because of Hayley Mills

For a while I've had a hard time finishing up my blog posts. I have a really big collection of unfinished posts in my drafts folder, so today I was sorting through them and trying to recall where I was going with each post. I found this one from back in April (remember, I never finished it)...

------------------------------------

Lately we've been working our way through Hayley Mills movies. We started with Summer Magic, then watched Pollyanna, and now we're working on The Parent Trap.

1. I haven't watched Pollyanna since I was a child, so I was a little surprised when the opening scene featured a naked little boy swinging on a rope into the river. I didn't think naked butts were featured in Disney movies in 1960.

2. I always have to laugh at Hayley Mills' very American roles with her British accent.

3. Scotty and I disagree about which movie has the worse ending - Summer Magic or Pollyanna. I think Summer Magic's ending is terrible and inconclusive. Scotty and Nicky think Pollyanna is worse. I don't think the movie did as good a job as the book at ending Pollyanna's story, but it's better than Summer Magic, for Heaven's sake!

4. I used to daydream about living The Parent Trap in real life. If only I had a secret twin I could trade places with. I'm sure it all would have worked out wonderfully (except for the horrible haircut).

5. I remember Hayley Mills playing Miss Bliss on Saved By the Bell when I was a kid, but I didn't realize that it actually wasn't Saved by the Bell at all, but Good Morning Miss Bliss which was canceled after 13 episodes and the reformatted to be Saved by the Bell.

----------------------------------

It was kind of funny to stumble across that post because watching Hayley Mills movies began a new phase of life for Nicky, and at the time I wrote it, I didn't know this phase was in the works.

As I mentioned (see #3) Nicky did NOT like the end of Pollyanna. He actually made a pretty big deal about it, and since then, he compares every movie ending to Pollyanna. Apparently, very few movies have a satisfying ending for Nicky, so it's very common for him to finish a movie and yell, "That was as bad as Pollyanna!"

It's not a casual comparison. It's passionate and involves flailing limbs. His arms wave, he stands up, and sometimes he stomps.

Over the weekend, we let him watch one of Scotty's and my favorites, The Truman Show. As the show was in the final few minutes, I suddenly remembered how The Truman Show ends, and I turned to Scotty and whispered, "This is not going to be good." Then we braced ourselves and watched it happen. Nicky was instantly on his feet. "What kind of ending is that?!?" and on and on and on.

I, personally, love the way The Truman Show ends, but when I first watched it as a teenager, I had the same reaction as Nicky. "How could they do this?" but now, I think it's brilliant. I do understand Nicky's troubles, though. Children like complete, tidy endings. They don't want to be left with questions.  

So I will do my best to parent him through this phase, and if I fail, I'll just blame Hayley Mills.