The Best of Both Worlds

Last night as we were coming home from the gym, a Miley Cyrus song came on the radio. Not that one song. You know, the other one.

I didn't know it was Miley Cyrus until Ainsley started talking to me about it.

"Mommy, have you ever watched Hannah Montana?"

Yes. Considering we watch Disney Channel all day every time I stay home with Ainsley when she's sick, I am familiar with her work.

"When can we go see her in concert?"

"Well, she came to Cincinnati a little while ago, but it was really hard to get tickets and I didn't know you liked her, so we'll have to try to go next time."

That's when my 5-year-old rolled her eyes so big that I could actually hear them turning in their sockets. She then let out a sigh that said, "My poor old mother. She has no clue."

"No, the movie. Of the concert. You said we could go."

Indeed I did. When we took Ains to see Enchanted, we saw the posters and the preview for the big 3-D movie version of the infamous Best of Both Worlds tour. Knowing there was no way in heck I was ever going to be able to stomach paying over $100 per ticket to take my kid to an actual Miley Cyrus/Hannah Montana show, I figured this was the next best thing. What I didn't realize until I heard the DJ talking after the song is that the movie is in theaters for one week only starting this Friday.

Sigh. From me this time. Because a promise is a promise.

When Ainsley knew that radio song was by Miley, I was floored. I didn't know the duality of little miss Achy Breaky Heart, Jr., was on Ainsley's radar yet. I thought the only reason she wanted to go to the movie when she saw the posters at Christmas was because she saw the visuals of one of her Disney Channel characters; I had no idea we had progressed to FM song recognition.

It shouldn't be surprising. This is also a kid who has listened to one or the other High School Musical soundtracks every night for a week now, singing along with Gabriella and looking dreamily at the picture of Troy. She still has one foot in The Little Einsteins and Backyardigans, but we're movin' on up to Hannah Montana and teen heartthrobs. She's becoming aware of pop culture. I couldn't be more proud.

Do you know what this means? It means I may never ever hear The Wiggles sing about fruit salad or shaky-shaky again! Hooray! Recently she's watched Star Wars, Jurassic Park, and even selected scenes from Titanic with us as we've come across them on new favorite channel TNT HD (we encouraged her to be elsewhere while Kate and Leo were in the back of the Model T, or course.) And she's seemed to be interested in them. Before long I'll be able to share my Brisco County Jr. DVDs with her. And we can have girls' nights in watching Dirty Dancing (with some strategically placed popcorn and potty breaks; not sure if I'm ready to explain Penny's predicament just yet.) Think about the possibilities with movie musicals alone! Grease! And maybe Hairspray! Once she becomes interested in more of the "tween" shows, we will be close to entering the era of shared TV- and movie-watching. Of shows and movies we actually have some adult interest in. Instead of watching The Little Mermaid (good movie though that is) for the 500th time! Oh, rapture!

I know, I know, I'm getting ahead of myself. We're talking about a kid who still gets in bed before prime time TV even starts. And a kid who may hate everything we try to rent or record to watch together. And who will probably argue with us very soon over conflicting TV interests (we already get some grief when The Good Night Show coincides with a Saturday night UK game.) But for someone who cherishes memories of staying up late to watch MASH reruns with her dad, and being "forced" to watch Gone With the Wind by her mom and unexpectedly falling in love with it, this is exciting stuff.

Bring it on, Hannah Montana. The Cranky girls are going to be catching you in a theater very soon. And it could be the start of something new.