Parenthood (Those are our daughters)

My dad lent me the Parenthood tv series so I've been watching it obsessively. This is why I rarely borrow entire series from people, though friend Maewitch offers me all kinds of things--cause I can't not watch one after another (and Mae has good taste! Terrible.)

But my dad tricked me! He lent me just the first episode of the first season just to test how itunes sharing would work, before sharing Doctor Who. And of course I watched it (it had been recommended by Mae when it came out). And got sucked in. It's quite similar to the original movie, which is one of my will-watch-over-and-over movies.

The humor's a bit different, cause in the movie it's more satirical; whereas the show is more Gilmore Girls, lots of witty quickliners. It's also from the creator and head writer of Friday Night Lights, which wasn't a funny show, but had the same focus on family and the same one-cry-per-episode ratio. (Me crying, not the characters.)

The series has super actors, and the ongoing storyline about having a child with Aspergers is very moving and feels real. Not because I have a child with Aspergers (though if my daughters were tested, believe me they'd have Something) but just from the people I've known, or Betties who have children-on-the-spectrum.

I enjoy the music--the teens have a poster of Tegan and Sara in their room, and they played a great Ray Lamontagne song I didn't know, and the "Swimming Song" which I LOVE.

Anyone else watching this thing?? I didn't even know anyone who liked Fri Night Lights until I met some Betties, cause I assume more Americans were drawn to it (it being ostensibly about high school football, though it's so much more.)

Here, now, is my favorite parenting song. It used to always make me think of Haley, and applies even more now that we have Minion. Fernando and I sang it to her just the other day. We love our furbetties so much!!

Daughter - original version by Peter Blegved (more famously covered by Loudain Wainwright III). Below are the lyrics, annotated by cat.


Everything she sees
she says she wants.   <--Minion
Everything she says she wants
I see she gets.   <--both

That's my daughter in the water  <--Haley likes to trail her tail in my bathwater
everything she owns I bought her 
Everything she owns.
That's my daughter in the water,
everything she knows I taught her.
Everything she knows.   <-- Actually Nombly taught Haley stuff
                                              and then Haley taught Minion. Like catching moths.
                                             I watched that get passed down cat to cat.

Everything I say 
She takes the heart  <-- when I tell Haley how beautiful she is, she gently flicks her tail
Everything she takes  
She takes apart   <--Minion

That's my daughter in the water
Everytime she fell I caught her  <--both
Everytime she fell
That's my daughter in the water
I lost everytime I fought her   <-- this is the key line... we lose... all the time
Yeah, I lost everytime

[musical bridge]

Everytime she blinks
she strikes somebody blind  <-- Haley - so beautiful and seduces all our guests
Everytime she thinks
blows your tiny mind   <-- Minion

That's my daughter in the water
Who'd have ever thought her  <-- This is how we feel. Who could think up the
That's my daughter in the water    personalities of these amazing creatures?
I lost every time I fought her         We heart cats. Big time.
Yeah, I lost every time