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Ugh, essence of Crabbe! CHEERS.

Sean: “I think when Jasper’s has a better grasp on language we can start reading books without pictures.. you know, like Aesop’s Fables, Brother’s Grimm — “
Me: “The Tales of Beedle the Bard.?”
Sean: “…Sure.”

I came here to wax poetic about Harry Potter and how I can’t believe (!!) it’s actually “ending” (!!), but now it’s occurring to me I’m not sure what to say. I think part of this is because I’m just so incredibly excited about the movie — I can barely eat anything. I woke up this morning giddy like a kid before Christmas, and even though we have fourteen hours to go, I’m still stoked.

We’re marathoning it all day — breaking the “no movies all day” rule for Jasper so he can take part in this. He can’t come to the movie with us (it’ll be a little violent, it’s really long, we’re going at midnight, he likes to run around at theaters after around 20-30 minutes of a movie), so this is as good as it gets. I very, very much look forward to the day that we start really sharing Harry Potter with him — reading the books first, but of course, and then seeing the films (he’s “seen” them before, but I mean that we’d like him to read the books and then watch them once he hits the point where he’s old enough to remember them. I don’t think he’ll really remember the movies from watching them now). Maybe. I think.




It comes as no surprise to me (but maybe to some of you) that I am infinitely more excited about sharing Harry Potter with Jasper than I am about sharing Star Wars. I love the hell out of some Star Wars and I’ll happily geek out about it all day, but Harry Potter is my jam. I’ve talked about it a lot on this blog, but it’s been my thing since I was 14 — we’re talking twelve years. I’ve literally grown up with Harry Potter always being around, and have been able to be an active part of its fan-base while it was growing — instead of catching onto it twenty or thirty years down the line. 
The love I have for these characters is intense. I’ve tried explaining it to people who have never opened one of the books or seen one of the films — I’ve tried explaining it to people who have. I know there are thousands of people who feel just as intensely, and I love them for it. So the idea of sharing these people who have been so important to me, even crucial to parts of my development, with Jasper staggers me with glee. 

Already, he’s into the first two movies. He has favorite characters (Dumbledore and Harry Potter, but he has yet to be introduced to or understand the full magnificence of Sirius Black), favorite parts (the flying car on the way to Hogwarts in Chamber of Secrets), and is learning new words and names (pixie! Hagrid! Hedwig!). I’m running a piece on Offbeat Mama in a few weeks about how people all over the world are using Harry Potter to teach their kids real-life, practical lessons in math, history, science, and so on, and that’s totally exciting to me. 
“Dumbledore’s man through and through,” said Harry. “That’s right.” 
I’ve had people email me, leave comments, and ask in person how they can get into the series. Both Amira and Sarah have recently started reading the books, and both of them gleefully let me know it was happening. Honestly, the best thing to do is to just DIVE IN. Open up Philsopher’s Stone and begin reading. The first two books will probably seem a little childish, but you have to keep in mind that they were aimed for kids. Harry, Ron, and Hermione begin the series as eleven-year-olds, so the books advance in maturity as they do. I can say this: I’ve never known anyone who started reading the books and regretted it, or felt like they wasted their time. I’d give just about anything to take back the two or three days it took to read the Twilight series online after Jasper came home from the NICU, but hey. It got me through early-on breastfeeding confusion, so I guess that’s something. But, again: I’ve never known anyone who is all “Man, I really wish I hadn’t spent all that time reading Harry Potter.”
Instead, I know people like my friend Kim, who is celebrating ten years of shared Harry Potter love with her teen-aged son. I know people like my husband, who had never read the books before we met, but happily sat while I read them out-loud to him, and people like our wedding clients Sarah and Allen, who are doing the same thing (we seriously have amazing clients). I know people like my crazy beautiful two-year-old, who now says “Aww” when he sees Dobby and tells me he’s going to visit “Hogwarts, the castle.”
“Tell me one last thing,” said Harry. “Is this real? Or has this been happening inside my head?”