I know! I promised I was done with my Oscar coverage, but I have to share and brag on my son Grayson, because he enjoyed his FIRST Oscars! And it’s been really cute listening to him talk about it.
Honestly folks, distance doesn’t really get in the way of father/son bonding at all. We Skype everyday and if you think my blogging about the Oscars was on the excessive side, just imagine my daily conversations with Serena… and as my fellow parents out there know, kids are sponges. So, it was no big surprise when Grayson said, “Hey, dad? Can I ask you a question?”
Seriously, this is how Grayson starts every conversation with me… I’m not sure why or when he started doing this, but he always does. “Hey, dad? Can I tell you something?” “Hey, dad? Can I ask you a question?” We could be the only two people involved in an epic 30 minute non-stop conversation, but when a new subject hits him, he’ll always transition by asking permission.
Anyway, on the day in question he wanted to ask me a question:
Grayson: “What are the Oscars?”
At which point, the clouds parted, the sun beamed down, and a choir of angels began singing. And as I wiped the tears from my eyes, I said, “Grayson? How much time do you have?”
Via Skype, Serena and I gave him a rough explanation and of course, since it was something daddy really liked, Grayson was really interested in hearing more about it and he kept asking very thoughtful questions… questions that were pretty hard to answer… self explanatory if he had actually seen an Oscar broadcast, but hard to describe to a person who had no point of reference.
Finally, Serena said, “You know what, Grayson? AFN is going to show it again at five o’clock today. I was thinking about watching it, would you want to watch it with me?”
Grayson: “Sure!”
Honestly, I didn’t think much of it. The Oscars are a big show for a five year old and as an Oscar obsessed father, I was just super excited he showed some interest… I had very little expectation of him actually watching it, so I never bothered to follow up on the subject.
Imagine my surprise, a few days later while Skyping, when Grayson said, “Hey, dad? Can I tell you something?”
Me: “What is it buddy?”
Grayson: “I watched the Oscars and it was pretty good.”
Double take.
Me: “You watched the Oscars?”
Grayson: “Yeah… I like it.”
Serena: “He really did… almost the whole thing.”
I was astonished. According to Serena, Grayson intently watched the first two hours of the broadcast… then got a little bored and worked on some of his craft projects while half watching/listening to the rest. Way more than I ever expected.
Anyway, Grayson told me all about it. He really enjoyed the songs, especially the ones from ‘Toy Story 3’ and ‘Tangled’… and he was really excited about ‘Toy Story 3’ winning best Animated Movie… although he was a little torn because he was also sad that ‘How to Train Your Dragon’ lost.
And Grayson even brought up our poor parenting skills… it crossed my mind to warn Serena about the ‘Best Makeup’ category… the broadcast featured the transformation scene from ‘The Wolfman’, but I really didn’t think they would be watching it, so I reach out to her. I know! I should know better. I should have warned them.
Anyway, Grayson was very a matter of fact, “Yeah dad… that one was pretty scary, like when mom showed me Michael Jackson in that scary video on the computer.” Yes, Serena inadvertently let Gray see the Thriller video about a year ago. As I said, we’re bad parents. Thank goodness Grayson is a pretty tough kid, “But it’s not real dad. It’s just an actor wearing makeup… but it was still pretty scary.”
And you know what? It was pretty scary… I feel horrible… however, having a five year old who understands the concept of actors playing make believe is AWESOME!
Now, the thing that tickled me the most was listening to Grayson talk about Helena Bonham Carter. That’s right… Helena Bonham FREAKIN’ Carter!
A long time ago I shared a story about Grayson recognizing Julie Andrews while watching ‘The Sound of Music’… “Hey! It’s Marry Poppins!” Which I thought was awesome… it was the first time he made that kind of connection and started understanding the concept of an actor.
Anyway, Grayson recently saw Tim Burton’s “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” at a friend’s house and it’s currently his favorite movie… go figure. And while watching the Oscars he got really excited when he saw Charlie’s mom (Helena Bonham Carter) in the audience.
In addition, he got really excited when he saw clips from ‘Alice in Wonderland’, where he not only recognized Helena, but also Willy Wonka as the Mad Hatter (Johnny Depp). And, by the time we skyped, Grayson was throwing around their real names like he was his old man… although he was super cute about it… “Dad, I saw Helena Bo… Bo… mom, what’s her name again?”
Serena: “Helena Bonham Carter.”
Grayson: “That right, I saw Helena Bonham Carter… I like her; she is a very good actress. I also like… umm… mom, what’s his name?”
Serena: “Who?”
Grayson: “The guy… the one who always wears the big hats.”
Me: “Johnny Depp?”
Grayson: “Mom, is that his name?”
Serena: “Yes.”
Grayson: “Yeah, Johnny Depp… he’s good too. I would like to see more movies they are in. Can I see ‘Alice in Wonderland’?
Too cute, right? Well, just wait… it gets cuter… at least to me. And Helena’s heart would probably melt if she ever stumbled across SchutzHappens and read the words my little five year-old said about her:
As our conversation continued Serena asked, “So, what was Helena nominated for?” (Serena never keeps up the Oscars… why would she? She’s married to me!)
Anyway, I never got a chance to answer. Grayson, that little bugger beat me to the punch, “The King’s Speech mom, she was in The King’s Speech… but she didn’t win though. I was pretty sad for her, it would have been really nice if she had won… but she didn’t win, right dad?”
Me: (Absolutely beaming!) “That’s right buddy… but you know what?”
Grayson: “What?”
Me: “If you liked Helena in ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’… you’re going to love her in ‘Harry Potter’.”
Grayson’s face was priceless. It was a mix between excitement and torture. He’s seen the first two Potter movies and he’s aware of all eight… however, he also knows that I’m not going to let him watch the third movie until he’s six.
I know… I’m a bad parent. ;)
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