I was so proud of myself. I had stumbled on the “Curious George” movie, voiced by Will Ferrell and Drew Barrymore, earlier today and recorded it, thinking my boys would love it — they love watching Curious George on my PBS app. And I gestured smugly toward Michael, who was riveted by the movie when he got back from daycare, with a “I told you so” look on my face for my husband.

At the movie’s climax — right where the Man in the Yellow Hat (named Ted in this movie) is letting George be taken away to be shipped back to Africa — I was dealing with Chris, who had a fever, and telling Mike to take his fingers out of his mouth.

And Mike burst into tears.

I was floored. I knew instantly what the problem was — he was so into the movie, and became distraught at the thought of George being put in a cage and taken away from his dad. Wow. Obviously, I was not paying attention at how Michael was growing by leaps and bounds and understanding more and more around him — of what he watched.

He spent the rest of the movie in my arms — in fact, I had Chris in one arm, in my lap, and Mike in the other arm, keeping his arms down.

I feel bad that both of them felt so bad, but at the same, it was so nice to have my big boys in my arms, without them struggling to extricate themselves.

Chris: Nuggets and fries! Nuggets and fries!
Me: Chris, stop kicking my chair, or you won’t get nuggets and fries.
Michael: Mama, Chris is silly.
Me: Yes, Mike, Chris is silly.
Michael: Mama, Chris is silly with Miss Adrienne (their daycare lady). Chris gets time-out.
Chris: Michael! Stop!
Me: Did he really just tell Mike to stop telling on him?? Wow!