Mother's Day 2011

1. The kids had to be reminded that it was Mother's Day when it became obvious that they didn't remember and/or care.
2. They spent all day disobeying me.
3. I made a deal with Grant that he was excused from Mother's Day dinner duties if he would go work on the basement. He readily agreed, then went and took a 3 hour nap. Just when I was about to strangle him awake he popped out of bed and worked on the basement.
4. Over dinner I tried to give the kids a mighty guilt trip about my mistreatment. Only Rune was moved to real sorrow. Lily unapologetic-ally and glibly promised to serve me faithfully for the rest of the week. Then, after dinner, she threw a fit when I asked her to practice piano.
5. I went to bed laughing and not looking forward to the day when my house will only be full of echoes and Grant will be the only one around for me to boss.

My favorite kid's media

Not in any particular order.

Pingu

He is exasperating and loveable at the same time. Just like a real kid! The lack of coherent dialogue is completely made up for by simplicty and exaggerated body language. The kids (and okay, Grant and I) have all enjoyed mimicking the babble and, often through tricks of sound and mind, have found 'coherent' words from all languages that we know. The fact that the episodes are only 5 mintues long is also a plus. If the kids are begging to watch TV but you don't particularly want them to be vegging in front of a screen, the solution is simple: "Okay you can watch two episodes of Pingu." They feel like they've scored and so do you!

www.uptoten.com

Boowa and Kwala are hands down my favorite choice for toddler computer time. It is innocent fun at its best. The site is so simple, fun and catchy that I often play along with the kids. Or at least watch them play. They have a huge selection of super simple games and songs. Boowa and Kwala have been part of our family dynamics since Rune was probably four years old and I've never gotten tired of them. An added bonus: If you have a desire to teach your kids French, the site can be toggled between English and French.

Teletubbies

Toddlers love repetition and Teletubbies gives them plenty of it. When it comes to a fun activity a small child's favorite word is "again!" and the Teletubbies are all over that philosophy. They do everything at least twice. I appreciate so much that this show moves at a baby's pace and not the parent's. An aside: Rune and Eliseo watched this show quite a bit in Taiwan and all of us learned a fair amount of Chinese from it. It is usually very difficult to learn a language from TV but since the Teletubbies talk so simply, use a lot of context, and repeat so often it is an ideal language learning tool for small kids.

Kipper

On Netflix one reviewer of this show called it the "Seinfeld" of toddler shows since the episodes are about essentially nothing. But 'nothing' is our relative adult term for very important happenings in a child's world. I've tested this out on Violet. At various and random times I would ask, "What does Kipper do?" She always gets a big smile on her face and is never without a ready answer. "He goes outside." "He finds Tiger." "He swings on the swings." In her world view Kipper does lots of things. I've also really enjoyed listening to my kids try to imitate their British accents.

Backyardigans

Alma recently discovered this show himself on Netflix. I had never seen it before. The premise is a group of kids who use their imaginations to make all sorts of adventures in their backyards. But the real beauty of the show is the music. So far I think we've experienced every genre of music except rap. If someone knows of a rap episode I'd love the find it. My favorite episode so far is the chef/ninja/great pie episode. This show has inspired my kids to try and use their imaginations more and I imagine it could really inspire a musically talented kid.

Spongebob Squarepants

Spongebob is honest, hard-working, good-humored, good-natured, non-judgemental and completely without guile. He looks on the bright side of everything and the good side of everybody. He is such a welcome departure from the rest of cartoondom that is rife with sarcasm, half-snide quips and a universal disrespect for authority based on the premise that all parent/teacher figures are dumb and/or ridiculous. I also appreciate that it avoids the good guys vs. evil nemesis story line. The closest Spongebob has to an evil nemesis is, I guess, Squidward, but he's not evil, just obstinately bad-humored. And more often than not he gravitates towards Spongebob's happy and fun antics in spite of himself.