This is a watercolor I painted for fun recently. I call it ‘My Brudder Toutoro’.
Anybody who has seen the film ‘My Neighbor Totoro’ has a special place in their heart for him. Let me tell you what Totoro means to us.
When Sienna was one-and-a-half years old, she developed a terrible fear of riding in the car. In fact, just saying the word ‘car’ or ‘drive’ would trigger a screaming fit. Needless to say, her fear made leaving the house really difficult for us.
Alisa and I don’t believe in using a DVD player as a ‘baby sitter’ but we knew Totoro had a mesmerizing effect on Sienna. Out of desperation we bought a portable player and mounted it to the back of a car seat and then, whenever we needed to go out, Totoro kept her calm and distracted for the drive. (To make it educational, she watched it only in Japanese and French.) It was three months before Sienna got over her ‘driving’ fear and during that time, Totoro kept our family sane and mobile. Thank you Totoro!
Here’s a drawing of ‘Toto’ Sienna made when she was two.
