If you know me, you know I'm a huge Disney fan, as is Marcelo. Marc, of course, has been indoctrinated from birth. I never thought I'd have to be explaining some of the things I've been explaining to him recently because of Disney movies.

At 2 1/2, he's gaining an understanding and empathy for the emotions of others. Just the other morning, he woke me up early and I must have still been pretty out of it because he took my face in his hands and said "It's ok, Mommy. Don't be sad." It just about broke my heart it was so sweet.

Anyway, I knew to keep him away from Bambi (mom dies) and The Lion King (dad dies). But he loves Dumbo and Stitch from seeing them at Disneyland, so I let him watch the movies and he loves them. Until recently, though, they never bothered him because I guess he didn't "get" them. In Dumbo, kids at the circus are hurting Dumbo and his mom goes after them and gets dragged away and locked up because of it. In Lilo and Stitch, Lilo's family has died (not shown in the movie like Bambi and Lion King) and she's on the verge of being taken away from her sister and put in foster care. Recently, Marc's been telling me that Dumbo and Lilo are "really sad" during certain parts of the movie. How do you explain to a 2.5 year old that they're sad because their mom got taken away without scaring him? I've been trying, and trying to limit how much he watches those movies, but they still make him sad.