A new babysitter...

So obviously I am not good at keeping New Year's resolutions no matter when I set them...so far I am failing at all of them, not just the blog writing one...I am still working on it...and trying to do better!

Recently Fuss has begun to enjoy the television. This has both its good points and its bad. The good comes because when he wakes up at 5:00 or 6:00 am and D and I am working while D is still sleeping, we have found that Fuss will lie sideways in the recliner in our room with his blanket, binki, sippy, and remote and watch the Disney channel, which is our new built in babysitter. I realize that this does not make us parents of the year, but it does keep us sane at these early morning hours. I have also been known to lock him in our room with me for 20 minutes or so and allow him to watch TV while I get a desperately needed little power nap. The guilt I have from not spending "quality time" with my son is extensive, but not enough for me to not get the nap, which is only done on the most desperate of days. Another "good" is that Fuss really is learning things from "Little Einsteins" "Imagination Movers" and possibly even "Handy Manny" even though he has yet to start making repairs around the house in Spanish...I am still hopeful! 

The "bad" part of his new TV addiction is that now when he wakes up the first thing he says after, "Ba! Mom, Ba!!" (meaning he wants a drink) is "On!" while pointing at the TV. Even though he rarely sits still and watches an entire show other than the early morning hours, it still has become a constant background noise in our house. I have to turn it off to get him to read stories or sing songs with me, which used to be his favorite pass time activity. The worst "bad" of all though is that I have to truly ask myself how it came about that these grown men are singing and dancing for my son. Why are these shows that drive me crazy with their cheesy songs and ridiculous scenes all performed by men? Is it that women have too much dignity to put on clown "pantaloons" and wait for another grown up to guess what they are dressed up as, or is it that no woman in their right mind would hang out in a warehouse with a mouse as a friend and so many rooms that you would never have time to clean them all? Either way, they drive me crazy. The sad reality of the whole thing is that my entire family is getting sucked into the Disney prison of no escape. It seems to be all we can do to change the channel to dramatic TV shows...Even I have traded in "Ellen" for "Hannah  Montana" and "Suite Life" is definitely better than watching the evening news. 

You're hot...

I wonder how it is that such small things can fascinate children.  Fuss has been obsessed with shoes pretty much since he could walk.  It can be my shoes, D's shoes, or any of his brothers' shoes, Fuss doesn't care. He loves shoes. He loves to wear them and attempt to wander through the house with gigantic feet. Even now he is wearing my black dress flats with his blue dinosaur pajamas and I am thinking that he really needs to learn that pajamas go with tennis shoes a little better than dress shoes.  It's not just shoes though; Fuss is also obsessed with batteries, remote controls, light switches, the buttons on our house alarm, small toys, pencils, lemonhead candies, blueberries, my jewelry, and the thermometer. When he was smaller if I wanted to take his temperature it was a fight. I would have to lay him on the bed and kneel over him to keep his arms out of the way, then hold his head with one hand while I held the thermometer in his ear with the other one. Now, every time the bathroom door is open Fuss runs in, opens the drawer, grabs the thermometer, and holds it in his ear.  He must take his temperature repeatedly before he is satisfied with the results, which really is fine since I know he can't get it in his ear too far, but still how quickly does he think he is going to develop a fever?  

His other most favorite obsession is my makeup, which goes better with the black flats. I can't get it out of his reach because he is a really good climber. Over the past couple of weeks, my eye shadow has been broken up and dumped on the floor, spread around and ground in to give my bathroom tile a nice shade of brown.  My eyeliners have been dipped in the lipsticks and used as applicators for putting lipstick on his cheeks and forehead. I now have no lipsticks, limited eye shadow, and I have had to wipe off all my eyeliners, but they still have a light pinkish residue on them. I never thought I would have to use makeup remover on my makeup, which by the way, is a little nerve wracking to do because what will happen to the makeup you want to keep that is under the makeup that you need to remove? At least I have an idea of what it might be like to have a little girl...