LP probably thinks this song is about him

After an intensive Cars phase, we’ve recently moved to one where all LP wants to watch is Pooh’s Heffalump Movie (which he calls “Lumpy”, after the baby elephant character). It’s a little less tongue-in-cheek funny than Cars (for grown-ups, at least), and it has no kick-a** soundtrack. But it’s still cute, and so far, we haven’t gone nuts.

Unsurprisingly, he identifies with the young characters, Lumpy and especially Roo, instead of with Pooh Bear or Tigger. Each time Lumpy finally finds his call (meaning that he has come of age), he cheers loudly, the joy always genuine and renewed, as if he’d never seen it before. Because in a bonus feature the director talks about how heffalumps (elephants) love to eat “rumpledoodles” (i.e. oatmeal cookies with raisins and coconut) and provides a recipe, we baked “biscuits de Lumpy” together. It all started well enough as you can see, but quickly went downhill when I didn’t use my Silpat mat on the cookie sheet because I couldn’t find it quickly and wanted to maximize the kid’s good mood/attention span, only to discover 10 minutes later that 1-the non-stick coating of my pan didn’t work anymore, and 2-I really should have followed my instinct when thinking that a cookie recipe without an egg and baking powder wouldn’t exactly turn out right. By the time they were exerted out of the pan and had cooled, LP was involved in some other game and not even remotely interested in eating the flat, chewy, sticky, too-salty disks.

We’ve just recently moved LP into his own toddler bed, and although the transition is better than we expected, it’s not always completely smooth. So in order to reassure him, we always remind him of the scene where Roo gets tucked in his own “big boy” bed by his mama, and by some miracle, it usually works. He sometimes even brings it up on his own, his little voice quivering with emotion and uncertainty.

Songs in the movie are all performed by Carly Simon, the easy-listening 70’s icon. Although not a fan of her (or anything much from that decade, for that matter), I must say I’ve grown into liking these songs, which often stay in my head for a while. I don’t know, she adds a certain emotion and depth to the thing (yeah, I’m still talking about a friggin’ Winnie the Pooh animated feature here). None of the songs know how to exactly find by tender/bittersweet spot like this lullaby, played when Roo goes to bed dreaming of waking up as a grown-up the next day. I now sing it to my son nightly, and how I manage not to cry I don't know...

Little Mr. Roo
Reaching up
For the moon
So many things
You've got to do
And no time
For dreaming

Little Mr. Roo
Let the stars
Shine over you
Don't grow up
Too fast
Too soon
Save some time
For dreaming

Settle in
Settle down
Let me see
That sleepy yawn
On your face
Close your eyes
I will love you
Completely
And always

Little Mr. Roo
The moon shines
Silver over you
No one knows
You like I do
And little Mr. Roo
Reaching
For the moon
Don't grow up
Too fast
Too soon