Cathryn's Quirks

I will be the first person to tell you that I have an obsessive/addictive personality. Richie will be the second person to tell you that. But I've witnessed some behaviors from Cathryn lately that make me look small time, and worse, I think it was me that created the monster.

It started off innocently enough, me listening to Phantom of the Opera in the car with Cathryn strapped into her car seat many years ago. Then, when Cathryn was three, the movie came out, and Richie took me out to see it. (I'm not ashamed to admit that I cried when the Overture played and the Paris Opera House transformed from black-and-white to full color.) Naturally, he also gifted me with the 2-disc Director's Cut of the DVD. That's when the trouble began. Right after Cathryn turned four, I took the DVD and Cathryn over to my mother's house. Mama had never seen Phantom and she had heard me rave so much about it, that she wanted be to bring it over. ANYWAY, Cathryn played with her dollhouse (meaning my old dollhouse that Mama still has) while we watched the movie. Cathryn became transfixed on the movie, completely forgetting about her dolls. On the way home, she asked me to put in the CD. She sang along as best as a 4-year old can.

It got worse from there. She wanted to watch the movie ALL the time. She wanted to listen to the CD all the time. So much so that I (YES, ME!!) have gotten tired of watching and listening to Phantom. She's even learning a song from Phantom to sing at her voice recital in a few weeks.

Now she's moved on to Cats. Yes, I know. Freaking Cats. A friend of Cathy and Richard's lent us a VHS copy of the musical, and once again, Cathryn has become transfixed. She enlists me to help her look up segments on YouTube. She asked me the other day to burn her a CD of the music. She also wanted to know if she can have a Facebook page so she can friend the creator of these Broadway musicals, Andrew Lloyd Webber. (The answer was an emphatic "NO", if you wondering.)

I'm absolutely positive that Cathryn is going to pursue a career in musical theater. Last night, she went to bed WITH AN ACTUAL SLEEP MASK OVER HER EYES. She also put a "Do Not Disturb" sign on her door. When I woke her this morning, she was still wearing the sleep mask, and asked me "Mom, why did you disturb my sleep when the sign on my door CLEARLY says 'Do Not Disturb'?"

I am not making this up, I promise.

Toodles!