My beautiful niece Lucy, who is now 18 months old, with a brand new baby brother, just saw Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer for the first time. While she is quite taken by the idea of Santa (or “Sintah”, as she calls him – my sister Jean, her mother, says it sounds like a genii from the Arabian Nights), she is more obsessed with the Nativity right now than anything else, and talks obsessively about Jesus (“Jzzzus” – no vowels, in Lucy’s pronunciation), the Virgin Mary (“Debbie” – we don’t know why), Joseph (“Jophess”), and the shepherds (“shippahds”). Yes, it is true, Debbie and Jophess fled from persecution. You can read about it in the Bible. “Where was Jesus born, Lucy?” “MANGER,” she shouts assertively.
However, a couple of days ago, she was introduced to Rudolph for the first time, and she was really too little for it. She found the whole thing to be “sad”, and you know what? I don’t blame her. Santa is a douchebag in Rudolph (or, as my friend Emily referred to him, “a racist motherfucker”), and Lucy found that part of it very upsetting, and kept announcing, “Sad. Sad. Sad. Sad.” throughout. (She speaks in one word bursts right now. She doesn’t have the connecting clauses, not yet.) The Abominable Snowman, seen above, terrified her (and rightly so). Rudolph has haunted her ever since, and she cannot stop talking about it. We were over Jean and Pat’s house on Christmas Eve, and Lucy kept talking about the “monster”, and Jean and Pat would translate for me. “She’s talking about the Abominable Snowman.” I am getting used to Lucy-speak, but it has been a steep learning curve. When she wants to do something by herself (like eat her food, or play the piano), she just announces, “SELF. SELF. SELF. SELF”, until you let her be. I find it to be a very effective mode of communication and think I will try it the next time someone offers me unwanted assistance. I will just shout, “SELF. SELF. SELF” until the person says, “Okay. Do it yourself.” I love this because Lucy, so little, so wee, is putting it all together, and learning how to assert herself in language. Good girl.
Lucy looked up at Jean at one point and said, seriously, “Monster. End.”
Jean understood what this meant and said, reassuringly, “Yes, the monster is nice in the end.”
That was all Lucy cared about. The monster was very scary, but in the end he was nice and helpful. Let’s just not think about all the rest of it, okay, because I’m only 18 months old, and it’s all just too scary.
“Monster. End.” she asserted again.
Pat said, comfortingly, “Right. The monster is happy in the end.”
It was Lucy’s bedtime and after a brief meltdown she settled down in her crib, and we sat around in the cozy living room, catching up with each other, happy to be together.
Occasionally, from Lucy’s bedroom, we would hear her voice call out to us:
“MONSTER. END.”
Jean would call back to her, “Yes, honey, the monster is nice in the end.”
Brief pause. Lucy’s voice again:
“MONSTER. END.”
“Yup. He’s very nice in the end.”
Longer pause. Lucy’s voice echoing out into the hall again:
“MONSTER. END.”
“Okay, time for bed, honey, but yes, the monster is nice in the end.”
Lucy was lying there in the dark, thinking about that monster, and she probably kept getting the scary visions of him from his first appearance and needed to loudly reassure herself of how he ended UP. He didn’t STAY bad. He was nice in the end.
But the connecting words and phrases are not there yet.
What is there is:
“MONSTER. END.”
And you MUST reassure her vocally, “Yes, the monster is nice in the end” – otherwise, you will keep hearing her stating, “Monster. End. Monster. End” in an endless loop.
That monster is very scary.
But at least he’s nice in the end. “Monster. End” is a good way to reassure yourself of that.
Sintah, however, is irredeemable.
Lucy had a two dimple smile on her face when I showed her the picture of the monster at the top of this post. Very nice.
It was great to see you this weekend. Glad you made it home safely today.
Patrick – Oh, I can see that two dimple smile!! Yes, here is the monster in the END of the movie. He’s happy and helpful!!
Yes, made it home! Glad I’m not out driving in it right now.
Great to see you guys too!
Sweet post, Sheil! Let’s not forget the second part of this never-ending loop – after a few “Monster…End..”s, there might be a “Tar”…(star) or a “Gone”…this means we need to talk about how the monster got to put a star on top of the tree and that he was happy and nice because his teeth were gone! HAhahahaha
“this means we need to talk about” hahahahahahahaha
See, I told you it was a steep learning curve!
But it all makes sense!!
The first time I saw ‘Rudolph’, at the moment the Abominable Snowman appeared over the top of the mountains, I stood up, announced, “I’m not watching THIS”, and promptly left the room.
So I sympathize.
Bren – Oh, I love that story. Yup. He’s terrifying. I sympathize too.
Keep chanting “Monster. End.” It’s been working for me.
I love, Bren, that you knew to take care of yourself. “I’m not ready for THIS.”
When Ceileidh was that age, she had a similar experience, but it was with the stone lions in front of Tom’s parents house. “Lions-raahr” was the endless loop. We had to assure her they were NICE lions, but indeed they DID say “raahr”. This went on…and on…and on…but eventually she worked it all out. Glad to report that at 18 years old, she no longer feels compelled to shout “Lions- raahr” until beads of sweat form on her nose. Those days are gone.
// This went on…and on…and on…but eventually she worked it all out. //
hahahahaha I love Ceileidh – yes, she had to work it all out!
// she no longer feels compelled to shout “Lions- raahr” until beads of sweat form on her nose. //
That is so adorable. I am trying to reconcile that with my image of Ceileidh now, as the lithe and confident college freshman. Amazing!!
“Monster. End.”
You say that (or Lucy does), but I hear
“Mockingbird. Kill.”
Because at the end of Harper Lee’s novel, Scout remarks that someone in the story Atticus had been reading to her wasn’t responsible for any of the mischief he’d been accused of — and, in fact, was real nice.
Prompting Atticus to remark that most people are, when you get to know them.
Even monsters!
And lawyers, too, who, as Lee’s epigraph from Charles Lamb has it, were children once (supposedly)!!
“Debbie and Jophess” — ahahahahahaaaa!
The random stuff is the best.
Aw. I love Lucy.
LOVE this!!! i updated the emily story in my show to reflect that not only is Sintah a “racist motherfucker” but he is also a “Bully-ass Muthafucka!” I end by saying…”Dont worry Rudolph ..It Gets Better…It Gets Better!”
Mitchell – It gets better, Rudolph!!! hahahaha Perfect!