The good, the bad, the funny

First, THE BAD.
Television craziness
Kylie usually watches a 30 minute tv show in the morning (usually Sesame Street) and 30 minutes to an hour at night before bedtime. On Saturday, all hell broke loose about the tv.

The first thing she said when she woke up was "Elmo's World". And after that she was relentless. She walked from my computer, where she watches Sesame Street, to our family room tv constantly spouting out name after name of shows. "Big Bird! Bert! Ernie! Elmo! Dora! Diego! Shrek! Nemo! Backyardigans!"

On and on it went and I was freaking out. I told her, "No tv" and tried to distract her but to no avail. I was really shocked. She has never been that way about television before. She was relentless.

And all I could think was, "I'm NOT having this. We won't watch anything until she's five if she keeps this up." The more she complained and screamed, the deeper I dug in my heels about it.

And Kylie acted like someone going through withdrawal all day long. Listless, whiny, screaming, the works. And I was shocked. I've read all the articles about "the dangers of television" but I thought I was offering it in small doses and in appropriate ways.

I think most of the meltdown on Saturday was the fact that she's almost two. "I want it now and I don't understand why I can't have what I want". But it certainly made me reconsider letting her watch any television.

So for us, no tv until nighttime before bed. That way I can say, "not until night" when she demands it. (And she is still demanding it but it's winding down a bit).

Spraying food.
Sigh. Almost two. And for some reason, Kylie has decided that she
a. likes to spit food into a napkin. Food she loves. Food that's neither too hot nor too cold. Doesn't matter. Wants to spit into a napkin.
b. If I don't provide a napkin, she will shake her head back and forth while spraying the food through her mouth.
Yep, fun times.

THE GOOD
She said spontaneously, without any prompting from anyone, "I love you Mommy!" as she ran into my arms. I forgot to breathe for a few seconds before getting teary and giving her a big ole grin.


When you've had a rough day of tv withdrawal, playing with a balloon can make it all better. Kylie would hold her balloon by the string then let it go. Karen and I would jump and thrash our hands towards the ceiling while screaming really loudly as we "tried" to catch the balloon on the ceiling. Kylie would scream with happiness at our antics. Lots of screaming and laughing is good for us all when we've had a rough day.


THE FUNNY
I got Kylie this play-doh monkey on Sunday. You can mush play-doh in the monkey's head and make him grow hair. I demonstrated it for Kylie and she screamed bloody murder. I have no idea what went through her little head about it. As I held her to me and walked around, patting her back and saying soothing things, I couldn't help but giggle.

Later, she thoroughly enjoyed making molded play-doh bananas of all different colors and feeding them to "the poor monkey" as she called him.