Mom, can I watch TV?

Everyone has a list of favorite shows from their childhood.  We fondly remember trying so hard to wake up early enough to catch it (a fact that totally confounds our children in the age of TiVo), eagerly anticipating our transportation to another world for 30 minutes.  We remember falling off a cliff with Wile E. Coyote, running from the villain of the week with Scooby Doo, and singing “kill the wabbit” to the tune of Ride of the Valkyries with Bugs Bunny.  We wished we could say “go go Gadget Copter” and zoom away to save the world from Dr. Claw.    And really, who didn’t harbor a secret fantasy of being He-Man or She-Ra?

Now 20-30 years later, I’m sure many of us have revisited our childhood passions and brought our children along for the ride.  And somehow these shows that held our rapt attention as children still appeal to our adult selves.  Maybe it’s the universal appeal of seeing Wile E. Coyote blown up for the 100th time, or simply nostalgia for the simple joys and pleasures of childhood.  But there are definitely shows that captivated us as children and made the journey to adulthood with us too. 

Somehow the majority of children’s shows currently on the air seem like they would be buried in the attic and denied three times.  I’m sure the most of us of us have been subjected to our favorite bilingual explorer at least once (and if you haven’t, it only takes about 1 minute of viewing to see where I’m coming from).  Can you really imagine your children pulling out an old DVD of that and introducing their kids to it with anything but dread and embarrassment?

Not that there aren’t modern shows we actually enjoy watching with our children.  Disney/Pixar films come to mind, Phineas and Ferb can be quite entertaining, and Cartoon Network’s new somewhat satirized version of Scooby Doo is often hilarious.  The ability to imbue a program with subject matter, language, dialogue, and comedy that children understand, and yet sprinkle in enough humor that we adults can appreciate it too is a rare skill. 

On one hand, we don’t want to sit through 30 minutes of baby babble by the Teletubbies, yet we are (rightfully so) not ready for our children to be exposed to the more mature themes we find so compelling.  Walking the tightrope between the two to produce an entertaining program is a recipe few chefs have perfected. 

Maybe when our children have children of their own there will still be a few gems left they can enjoy together.

I Am Cool

I am a cool mother.  

Yes, I do drive a minivan, ferry children all over town to various activities, coordinate schedules like a manager, and have at least 3 conversations simultaneously on such diverse topics as our new school schedule, what Transformer toys we have gotten from Burger King, and if we are having dessert today.  

I undoubtedly have days where I’m not as nice as I should be, or have just heard “Mom, can I do ____” one too many times and lose it.  And I definitely have days where I dream of an extended vacation all by myself. 

Despite all those flaws, I do have a few things going for me. 

I climb trees to shake down pecans for the girls to collect.  I point out the dead possum in the road, tromp through the woods to find where it was deposited, and describe in detail the stages of decomposition (Joyce and Marie were very disappointed to find that a scavenger had carried it off a few days later and we wouldn’t get to watch it finish decomposing). 

I let them play in the dirt, and bury each other up to their necks in playground sand.  They have used each other as a canvas to paint on more than once.  I take them to international festivals and make them try different foods, learn how people dress, hear what languages they speak, watch how they dance, and listen to what their music sounds like.  They are regulars at my bellydance shows, and even participate in open dance time.

I catch lizards for them to keep as pets.  Joyce loves to tell the story about how we caught Suzie, our Broadhead Skink.  The second lizard, Alex, was caught while Joyce was in theatre class.  Since we had to go directly from class to Chick-fil-a for dinner, the lizard rode along in my purse.  There was a lot of giggling going on at dinner that night, but no one told about our secret passenger.

I bring “overnight pets” home for them.  My usual exercise route takes me past a pond, and I frequently see frogs and toads on the sidewalk.  We enjoy observing them for a day, look them up in a field guide and read about them, then return them to their natural habitat. 

I let them check out books about almost any topic they want at the library.  We have learned about hurricane Katrina, the Bubonic Plague, Vincent Van Gogh (although they couldn’t understand why he cut off his ear), and of course dinosaurs.  We went to a presentation there on medieval arms and armor, with real weapons to play with.  They had great fun practicing with the wooden sword and shield, and wearing real chain mail.  I just had way too much fun playing with the swords. 

I know they don’t realize what atypical mother they have now, but I hope at some point they will comprehend this in retrospect.  

Maybe when they grow up, they will even remember the time we found a snake in the pool. 

And appreciate that instead of running away screaming, I caught it and we kept it as a pet. 

Because I really am cool.

The Mystery of the Writing on the Wall

Some of you may have already seen this, but it’s one of our more memorable incidents and worth sharing again.

Our kitchen has a short wall separating it from the playroom, and a table pushed against it.  That means I can’t see the wall unless I crawl under the table.  I just happened to do this one day, probably retrieving something that dropped.  This is what I saw, written in pen of course.

So of course my first question is “WHO DID THIS?”  Neither would admit to it, so we decided to do some forensic analysis.

Each child had to give a writing sample. 

A perfect match, but not from the one named!  We originally thought it was Joyce, but she was acting confused and upset when we accused her and Marie isn't a very good liar.  Thus the writing sample. We didn't know Marie could write lower case letters, apparently she's been learning at school!  

So Marie wrote on the wall, lied about it, AND tried to frame her sister.  Joyce was ecstatic that she proved her innocence and Marie not only got in trouble for doing it, but also for lying about it and trying to get Joyce in trouble.  We asked Joyce what we should do about Marie.  
Needless to say, Marie did not have a fun rest of the evening. 

Joyce was in such a good mood after that and drew this later in the evening.  I love her depiction of my face and hair, and her innocent smile.  The picture pretty much says it all!