The Two Leos

Before Christmas, my girls came across the 1996 production of William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. The production which, I am quite certain has The Bard flipping over in his grave every time it is shown.

I mean seriously, how can Juliet say,

"O happy dagger!
This is thy sheath;
there rust, and let me die."

and then shoot herself?



The part of Romeo is played by Leonardo DiCaprio. My girls love the movie Titanic, so the second they saw Leo as Romeo, they said, "Oh, it's Jack."



Flash forward to Christmas. The Princess and her cousin, S, were having a conversation, and the Princess came to me and asked if Leonardo DiCaprio is dead. I told her no, he's in his 30's, and is definitely not dead.

On New Year's Day, I picked the Princess up from a friend's house. On the drive home, she said, "Finally, one of my friends believes me that Leonardo DiCaprio is not dead."

I asked her why her friends all think he's dead. She said she didn't know. Then she asked me the name of "that lady he painted."

Thinking she was talking about Titanic, I said, "Kate Winslet is the actress' name."

"No," she said, "the lady he painted in real life."

I didn't realize Leo was an artist. She kept on, asking me again, and crossing her hands in front of her. I had a light bulb moment.

"The Mona Lisa?" I asked.



Ummm, yep, that's a different Leo, and he is dead.



By the way, if you're wondering how my eight year old knows that someone named Leonardo painted the Mona Lisa, it's because her wonderful first grade teacher, Mr. B, dressed up as Leonardo DaVinci for Halloween.

And nine year old cousin S knows all about Leonardo DaVinci because her little brother likes the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.