Thursday, January 22, 2009

Meeting the Princesses : Part 4 of Disney World.

My sweet boy Isaac has always loved Princesses. This has caused some concern in my extended family --- but not with us. He is a tender boy who finds beauty, solace and wonder in fairies and princesses. And we are thankful for it. He is also a boy who loves smashing cars and fighting pirates. So, we are glad for his well-rounded sense of gender identity as well.

Tinkerbell has always been his favorite. He loves to dress up as her ... with wings and wand ... and fly around the house performing magic. Once, while fluttering about the living room, he asked me to call his Poppy to tell him that he (Isaac) was a beautiful Tinkerbell ... because, as he said, "Poppy will be so proud of me." Well - I made the phone call and Poppy tried to be proud.

So, when we reached the Magic Kingdom, we were hoping to get a glimpse of the "full-sized" Tinkerbell ... but the line was 45 minutes long ... and we had already had an opportunity to say a brief Hello to the pint-sized Tink at the Tinkerbell's Treasures shop (Isaac rang a bell and called out to her ... then she flew in and made an appearance that was most believable). However, the line to meet the Disney Princesses was just 15 minutes long, so we waited in it ... fully appreciating that Isaac was the only boy in either line.

Well - thank goodness we made the decision to meet these lovely ladies, because it turned out to be one of the highlights of our entire trip ...

Here he is showing Cinderella how he will protect her from all of the bad pirates in the kingdom (he had just met Hook & Smee)...

She was most delighted and said that the kingdom could always use another strong prince like him. So, he went on and on telling her about how strong he was and how he would keep the bad guys away from her because she was such a nice lady. (What a proud Mama I was --- thinking that one day he will grow up to want to protect his own lovely lady :)

Cinderella really enjoyed him and their embrace was so genuine and beautiful.

Then, Mr. Isaac (pumped from his date with Cinderella) went on to meet Belle ...

He also explained to her how he would protect her. He told her about some of the rides he went on ... complimented her on her pretty yellow dress ... and enjoyed a lengthy and substantive conversation with her. It was obvious that that they were both quite taken with one another (remember, he was pretty much the only boy they saw that day - as told to me by Cinderella).

Next, Isaac went on to meet Princess Aurora (Sleeping Beauty) and enjoyed a conversation with her regarding the beauty of her hair (initiated by Isaac)...


They talked of Prince Philip, her fairy godmothers and some other polite conversation (no discussion of rescuing her from pirates or bad guys). And again, it was a most delightful visit.

BUT then Isaac needed to say good-bye as it was time to leave the Princess room and head back outdoors to the Magic Kingdom. This was near torture for him. He - in his normal, everyday life - does not do well with goodbyes. He avoids them by just walking away, crying, or pouting. He has a hard time when his friends have to leave, etc. We know this must have so much to do with some deep-rooted abandonment issues related to adoption (issues that he doesn't even know or understand as he was just a day old when Marjorie brought him to the orphanage). So, when Mama was telling him that it was time to go ... he just fell apart sobbing ....

Until Belle came to the rescue ...


She was so lovely. She held him and told him that she loved him ... that she would always be here for him ... and how thankful she was that he came to visit, etc. She took time away from other guests (sorry other guests) to make sure that he felt better about leaving ... as it was only temporary and she would see him again. It was pure magic. Isaac felt so special. And he was able to leave in peace. Now Belle is his favorite princess in all the world. Of course. And mine too. Thank you Miss Belle - may your kindnesses be rewarded ten-fold.

These brief but meaningful meetings with the Disney Princesses are now forever in Isaac's heart. And as far as I am concerned - those visits are worth every dime I spent on this trip.

I hope you enjoy some magic and encouragement in your day too.

Love,

Jodi

11 comments:

This Mama said...

Jodi - you made me tear up and I was not expecting this at all when I came to read about your Disney trip!! How sweet of Belle, but how sweet of Issac - those photos are so precious!

I am VERY excited for the Frog Princess to come out (I think Dec 2009) and I am sure hoping our kids are home by then so we can all go together.

Looking forward to reading about the rest of your trip!

Sarah and Tim said...

What a sweet story!!!

Anonymous said...

Very sweet story. Just one more reason to love Disney World! Great photos.

Mitzi said...

OK, never would I dream I would get teary eyed over the Disney Princesses! Such a sweet little boy you have and what a wonderful husband he will make a lucky girl one day! We also just got back from a vacation. I gotta catch up from being away! So glad you guys had a wonderful trip and I am excited to hear about more!!

Anonymous said...

That is exactly why Disney is so great!! This is very reminiscent (sp?) of Bryn's first trip witht the princesses. She was so smitten ( at 2 and 3/4) and made such a impression on snow white belle, mary poppins and jasmine that the same day during the parade, each princess from above their perch in the floats yelled "Hello Bryn" right to her, which made her quite popular among the other guests....dreams do come true in Disney.... Gotta love it!

CG said...

This post brought me so much joy! I love that picture of him kicking next to Cinderella. And all his stories and promises of heroism were just splendid. This makes me look forward to having our children home even more. Thanks for sharing!

Michelle said...

That's a great story, Jodi! So sweet! I'm looking forward to taking all of our kids to Disney! This makes me want to go even more. Thanks for sharing!

Anonymous said...

I found this post searching for pictures of Cinderella's hair so I could replicate it for a friend's hairstyle, but I ended up reading your blog as well. What a wonderful experience your visit must have been! Issac sounds like an awesome kid, and how the characters treated him sounds really special. What a pleasant surprise to pop up in google!

Anonymous said...

Hi Jodi, we talked once before when you first posted this (about a very special "friend" of mine) and I have been having a pretty rotten time at work lately... I decided to re-read this again because it reminds me of why I do what I do and it really did help... I hope you and Issac can come visit again soon. I need another scoop of pixie dust!

Anonymous said...

I happened to see this blog searching for photo's of Belle's dress. This just touched my heart, as Belle is one of my favorite Disney Princesses, and I was in Beauty and the Beast play. So special; it was like reading a book, I didn't know how it would end. I am glad that it was Belle who helped. If Belle was real, I'm sure she would do the same thing!

The Blum Family said...

I stumbled across your blog looking for pictures of the Disney Princesses for my daughter. What a wonderful story! You have such an amazing son!
Just had to post a comment that your story made my tears flow (just like some of the other readers I notice).
Thank you for sharing it!
We love Disney World!