Thursday, December 2, 2010
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
Well played, Kermit
Today I finally dug out my big bin of Christmas music. Can I get a whut-whut?! I love me some Christmas music, as evidenced by the ridiculous number of CDs I have socked away.
Along with the music were two DVDs..."A Muppet Family Christmas" and "Rocky Mountain Holiday" with John Denver and the Muppets. Muppet fan here, obviously. Tank and I were heading out to run a couple of errands, so I grabbed the John Denver one to pop in the Jeep DVD player and see what Tank thought of it. Lately, he has been into "Back at the Barnyard." And ONLY "Back at the Barnyard." Over and over and over and over and over....well, you get the drift. He used to LURVE the movie "Cars"--"Guhs" in his Tankese language, but nowadays, he whines and fusses if you put anything in other than Otis and the gang from "Back at the Barnyard."
So, anyway, I stuck in the John Denver and the Muppets movie to see how long that would last. I was shocked that he seemed drawn in from the get-go. We stopped to get gas and whilethe tank was filling his college fund was draining away, I sat in the back seat next to Tank and we watched together. "Rocky Mountain Holiday" is really just about a camping trip and there's a lot of "be kind to the earth" messages in it about loving animals, picking up your trash and generally being a good steward of the planet. Since we had just dropped off a Jeep-load of recycling, I felt righteous enough to watch as John Denver led us all to greater, greener enlightenment.
And there I was, with my boy. We were sharing a Muppet adventure together. I've always loved the Muppets and--in my pre-baby days--had dreamed of one day having a child who loved them as much as I did. Dream Parenting is like that...you imagine all the soft-focus fun you're going to have, spinning around in a sunlit meadow, making daisy chains, baking cookies at Christmas, sharing favorite songs, books, movies. Then you actually HAVE a kid and suddenly you experience Real Parenting. Real Parenting kicks Dream Parenting in the groin, takes its lunch money and flicks boogers on its homework.
My little Tank didn't like to do any of the things I'd dreamed of doing with him. Nada. Zippo. Zilch. Spin around in a sunlit meadow? Um, try charging around the front yard and managing to hit every single pile of dog crap my non-leash-law-abiding neighbors' dogs dropped. Daisy chains? Please! I'm afraid he'd garrotte me with one. And the heartwarming vision of me baking Christmas cookies with my little one has been bitch-slapped by the reality of trying to microwave Unhealthy Choices with a two-year-old's head stuck halfway up my butt. So I wasn't too optimistic about sharing Muppet Love with this little Man Beast.
But then he surprised me. He liked it! He watched intently and recognized Kermit and Fozzie. He bobbed his head side to side when they sang. He watched the whole DVD without a peep. Hunh. How about that? I've got to say, I was a little teary-eyed over it. Sure, we were sitting in the back seat at an Enmark station and neither of us was the perfectly coiffed magazine model of parent or child I had thought we'd be. But for a little while, my boy and I had something even better...we had the Muppets. And each other.
Along with the music were two DVDs..."A Muppet Family Christmas" and "Rocky Mountain Holiday" with John Denver and the Muppets. Muppet fan here, obviously. Tank and I were heading out to run a couple of errands, so I grabbed the John Denver one to pop in the Jeep DVD player and see what Tank thought of it. Lately, he has been into "Back at the Barnyard." And ONLY "Back at the Barnyard." Over and over and over and over and over....well, you get the drift. He used to LURVE the movie "Cars"--"Guhs" in his Tankese language, but nowadays, he whines and fusses if you put anything in other than Otis and the gang from "Back at the Barnyard."
So, anyway, I stuck in the John Denver and the Muppets movie to see how long that would last. I was shocked that he seemed drawn in from the get-go. We stopped to get gas and while
And there I was, with my boy. We were sharing a Muppet adventure together. I've always loved the Muppets and--in my pre-baby days--had dreamed of one day having a child who loved them as much as I did. Dream Parenting is like that...you imagine all the soft-focus fun you're going to have, spinning around in a sunlit meadow, making daisy chains, baking cookies at Christmas, sharing favorite songs, books, movies. Then you actually HAVE a kid and suddenly you experience Real Parenting. Real Parenting kicks Dream Parenting in the groin, takes its lunch money and flicks boogers on its homework.
My little Tank didn't like to do any of the things I'd dreamed of doing with him. Nada. Zippo. Zilch. Spin around in a sunlit meadow? Um, try charging around the front yard and managing to hit every single pile of dog crap my non-leash-law-abiding neighbors' dogs dropped. Daisy chains? Please! I'm afraid he'd garrotte me with one. And the heartwarming vision of me baking Christmas cookies with my little one has been bitch-slapped by the reality of trying to microwave Unhealthy Choices with a two-year-old's head stuck halfway up my butt. So I wasn't too optimistic about sharing Muppet Love with this little Man Beast.
But then he surprised me. He liked it! He watched intently and recognized Kermit and Fozzie. He bobbed his head side to side when they sang. He watched the whole DVD without a peep. Hunh. How about that? I've got to say, I was a little teary-eyed over it. Sure, we were sitting in the back seat at an Enmark station and neither of us was the perfectly coiffed magazine model of parent or child I had thought we'd be. But for a little while, my boy and I had something even better...we had the Muppets. And each other.
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