This week has been grey and rainy. Typical PNW week this
time of year, so I shouldn’t be surprised. And I’m not. Just disappointed it is
here I guess. We have had such a beautiful Fall so far so I was deluded into
thinking maybe the nasty raining season would sit back this year and let the magical
snowy season take its place. No dice. That’s fine – just means you have to be a
little more creative in entertaining your kids. I like to go outside rain or
shine but now with itty bitty Sebastien, I need to be a bit more selective. We
HAVE gone out in the rain and dressed him in his rainsuit, but he wasn’t
exactly thrilled. He didn’t complain too much so a few times a week should be
good enough. Once he is walking around (another six months?) we can head out in
any weather every day. So, needless to say, we stayed inside a lot this week.
To entertain Maya’s growing obsession with all things Winnie
the Pooh (thanks gramma and grandpa) we trekked to the library in search of
some audio books to save what’s left of my voice. Reading the same three stories
is nice and all but girl, Mommy needs a break. If I have to read about Pooh
getting his ass stuck in the honey tree one more time, all the intelligence in my
little brain may pour out onto the page and get it all goopy and icky and then we
will have to buy a new book. You don’t want that do you? Time for good ol’
Christopher Plummer to do some of the work for me. Little did I know that a
Pooh story read aloud by the actual characters (gasp!) would be so seductive. I
have now listened to Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree roughly fifty times in
the past three days. Maya laughs Every. Single. Time. Christopher Robin giggles
“silly old bear” at the end of the story. It’s cute but it’s also a bit much.
We don’t have a TV in our house therefore we don’t have any
fights over taking TV privileges away…but this audio book thang is starting to
fill the void. It’s like crack. I can get her to do ANYTHING if I say “No Pooh
until after you brush your teeth, get dressed, eat breakfast, etc…” Nifty tool
but I am starting to feel as though Pooh is taking over my sweet little
daughter’s creative mind. She demands Pooh and Pooh only. Why don’t you play
with your blocks and babies and markers like you did before that cute little
bear pranced in to our lives? No, she wants mooooooorrrre Poooooh
noooooowwwwwww. So, yes, now she WHINES. I hate whining. Whining means she is
getting too used to getting Pooh whenever she damn well pleases. Last night she
threw an award-winning tantrum (and by the way, this is only the third or
fourth tantrum I have ever seen, so you know this is a giant red flag for me)
because I would not play Pooh on the ipod “one more time” (she had been
listening to it nonstop for about 30 minutes already – hey, Mommy needs her
time too you know). She’s a Pooh-aholic.
What the what? Am I really going to hold back a story from a
girl who wants to “read” along with her books? Even though it’s not TV, isn’t
it just as deadly to the imagination to be TOLD how the story goes instead of
coming up with one on your own? So I am trying to limit the books on CD now to
a few times a day…and it is working. She has created her own cast of characters from her animal collection - she has Eeyore and Piglet (made for her by a friend), a teddy bear she got from the ER (another story for another day) is Pooh, two bunnies are Rabbit and then there is the audience - Joovy, Baby and Pumpkin (her babies). Now I can hear her in her room acting out
the story and adding in her own verses and adventures. This is more like it.
Winnie the Pooh, choose your own adventure. I like it.
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