Oz Obsessed

Sylvia has seen The Wizard of Oz approximately 10 times since Margot was born.  9 of those times were in the first two months of Margot's life.  Sylvia liked the movie, especially the songs and the munchkins.  She usually lost interest around the flying monkeys.  However, a couple weeks ago, we let her watch it again.  We put Margot to bed and curled up on the couch with some popcorn.  This time, she watched it the whole way through and during the part where Dorothy is trapped in the witch's castle, Sylvia CRIED.  She cried real tears.  She saw how sad Dorothy was and her poor little 3 year old self just couldn't take it.  We walked her through it and by the time Dorothy clicked her heels three times, Sylvia was all smiles and giggles.  Needless to say, I decided now would be a good time to start our first chapter book!

I picked up these babies in the dollar bin at Target, thinking I'd stash them away for a few years until the girls were old enough to enjoy them.  I had tried a chapter book with Sylvia around her third birthday (Charlotte's Web) and she was just too little to sit and listen (or maybe I was too apathetic to care about that dumb story, but whatever).  So I decided to try again with a story she already knew, hoping that would make a difference.  I'm happy to report that YES IT DID!  She was infatuated with the story.  Of course, this is an abridged version, but there's a great introduction that encourages young readers to read the full story when they are old enough to enjoy every detail, which I certainly appreciated. 

Admittedly, I have always loved the movie, but have never read the book.  It turns out they are extremely different!  This story has tons of extra characters and some daunting situations in which our four lovable friends must work together.  And this version comes with some adorable illustrations scattered throughout.  Some are half a page, some a full page, and each chapter has at least one two-page illustrated spread.  After we read a chapter or two each night, Sylvia grabs the book and looks ahead at the next chapter's illustrations.  We've been staying up a good 30 minutes past her regular bedtime each night because she keeps begging me to, "Read more, Mommy!" and I can't help it, because I want to read it just as much as she does!

Today, after I had left for work, Sylvia dug her Dorothy dress out of the bottom of her dress up bin.  (I bought it used two years ago and had completely forgotten about it)!  She also climbed into her closet to dig out her red corduroy Toms and emptied her toy bin to find the stuffed doggie that most looked like Toto.  She dumped out her wicker crayon basket and slung it over her arm while she tucked Toto underneath the other arm.  According to Sylvain, she pretended to be Dorothy all day long.  When I came home, I took one look at her and could hardly breathe!  She was lost in a book.  A good one.  I envied her, really.  It has been a long time since I was that interested in something I was reading.

Sylvain had the good sense to grab his phone when he caught her "reading" in her rocking chair this afternoon.  He had just put Margot down for a nap and he saw that she was looking at the pictures and retelling the story.  (You might have to turn the volume all the way up, but hang in there...it's totally worth it!)  Toward the end, she says, "Unfortunately, something terrible happened!"

Sylvain sent me a text explaining the video and the "unfortunately, something terrible happened" sentence and I melted.  This kid is turning into a writer before our very eyes! 

As if that wasn't enough cuteness to fill my entire day, while I was putting Margot to bed, Sylvia came in to sing her a song, like she often does.  But instead of singing "Aurora's Song" for the four hundredth time, she asked me if I would sing "Dorothy's Song" with her, because she couldn't remember the words all by herself.  We had the greatest sing-along moment in Fasciotto history!  My eyes filled with tears as her sweet three-year-old voice sang, "whyyyyy caaaaaan't IIIIIIII?" at the end.  Oh my word, I love this story and this movie and this SONG and THESE GIRLS so much!!  What a blessing.  To think that one piece of literature could bring so much joy to so many people for so many years.  Amazing.

And for the record, the shoes are SILVER in the book!  Can you believe that?  As you can see from the video, Sylvia clearly prefers the "ruby slippers."  Who wouldn't?!