Toby's getting Oona started on the Xbox young. Look at her go! She'll be the first professional, toddler gamer. Seriously though, Oona doesn't play but loves to watch her Dad and brother play together and can sometimes be a wildcard factor in the game, if she suddenly toddles over and turns the TV off or ejects the game disc. I find it sort of weird that some women I know when hearing Toby has an Xbox roll their eyes and say they'd never let their husband's have that. It seems rather icky and pretty controlling in my opinion, I mean it's not like Toby begrudges my interest in celebrity fodder or trashy magazines. Toby works his tail off with work, school and doing stuff around the house so why shouldn't he cut loose playing video games if that's what he enjoys. And I don't have a problem with him playing Xbox games with Owen, they have fun and it's not like they do it every day for hours on end. I guess Moms like that tend to make me bristle. And Moms who don't let their children watch any TV. God bless the TV! My house would never be clean and I could never make a meal, clean the dishes or, for that matter, go to the bathroom by myself without the TV. It just seems very judgmental. Women can be so inherently bitchy and judgmental to begin with but parenting sends it into the stratosphere. And I know there are good reasons behind this bad feeling, wanting to protect your children, the awesome responsibility of positively shaping a human being. I'll be the first to admit that I'm a pretty judgmental Mom myself, but I'm able to pull back and realize that it gets me nowhere, all it does is make me feel unreasonably slighted, angry and mad. Of course I totally support healthy kvetching and gossip from time to time as long as it isn't malicious or, um, like people issuing forth a parenting manifesto that their way is the right way, if that makes any sense. I'll hop off my sopabox now.This past weekend was very busy for us. Toby's parents came out and watched the kids so we were able to go out to dinner for our anniversary. We haven't been out without the kids since July, when we went to a friend's wedding, so it was a very welcome change to eat a meal at a leisurely pace and not have to bring toys along or an abundance of baby wipes. We really need to try and get out more regularly it's just difficult since good babysitting help (aka Toby's Mom who lives 3 hours away) is hard to come by. I need to ease up on my worrying with Oona, it's always so hard for me to leave kids under three with someone else. It's especially hard with Oona since she seems hellbent on hitting her head whenever possible. I mean our living room is pretty well baby proofed, no coffee table or end tables with sharp corners but in the past week Oona has whacked her head on the built in bookcase shelf and a baseboard corner between the living room and dining room, which I have no idea how she managed to do since there's a chair blocking off that corner. With every bump on her head she's shortening my life I swear.
Toby's Mom also brought out some Christmas gifts for us from Toby's Aunt Sharon. Now Toby's Aunt Sharon is a really nice lady but she's slightly screwy. She'll give you gifts that you could swear were lying around her house gathering dust, because you'll unwrap them and there will be dust or cobwebs on them. She also makes crafts, she made Oona a beautiful birth announcement cross stitch but then she put it in this old metal frame that wound up getting rust on the cross stitch. So this year she made us a terry cloth pouch to stick our soap in, I guess some sort of built in washcloth soap combo which I don't think I'll use because then the soap couldn't dry after using and I'd think that would be a huge bacteria magnet. She also made us a pot holder but it's out of this really flimsy material and I'd think it would be the equivalent of using your shirt as a potholder, not a good idea unless you want to burn yourself. And, yes, there is a meat stain on the potholder too, so it has been used before. Owen liked it though, he always loves the bad presents we get. So he put it on and I said he could be a new Marvel superhero 'the claw'
2 comments:
I like your soapbox. I like TV. That was another thing I read in "The Blessing of a Skinned Knee," that it's not a bad thing to let your kids watch TV, (esp. when they're school age) because not letting them watch "cheats them out of fun and fellowship because so much grade school currency is based on what is going on in the media." For the younger kids, I say, if it helps a mom stay sane and get stuff done, and they're watching age-appropriate fare, why not? I mean, come on, right? I can't recommend that book enough. Even Bryan loves it and he usually runs from that sort of non-fiction. you go girl.
TV is the best. I'd never get my fiance out of the way if it weren't for television or his computer. He's everywhere I turn but those two things keep him in place ... like when I'm cleaning.
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