Seeing it through a child's eyes.

Today I sat down and watched the movie "My Neighbor Totoro" by Hayao Miyazaki with Erin. I remember when I first watched this movie. The Japanese exchange student who was living with us, Mana, wanted to share it with us. If I'm remembering right, the first few times we watched it, it was in Japanese with no subtitles or anything. Mana translated enough for us to get the gist of what was going on, and we loved it. How could you not, between the giant rabbit-like forest spirit and the cat bus??
To my delight, Erin also loved it. She was captivated by it in a way that she hasn't been by other things. She sat and watched through nearly the entire thing (whereas with Fraggle rock it's pretty much just the opening and closing credits). When the cat bus appeared for the first time, she actually laughed and pointed at the screen.

I am so glad to share one of the simple joys of my own childhood with her. It really is a wonderful experience.