Our family has flirted with the idea of changing from cable to dish for about a year now. It's cheaper than cable and has more channels, but we were worried about reception and had heard the rumored horror stories here and there. Monday, the solution found us in the form of a blue-shirted sales kid named Doug. We had it installed the next day. IT TOOK 5 HOURS! If this is any indication of what we're in for, I'm afraid. Very afraid.
The up side, besides having, oh, about 45 more channels with nothing on, is a channel called, "Boomerang." I'm sure I'm late in discovering this one. But, from what I've seen so far, it is the American Movie Channel, of kids programming. It runs the cartoons that I grew up watching, including, but not limited to:
Tom and Jerry:
Dastardly and Muttley:
And one of my all time favorites, Pink Panther (with shorts of Inspector Clouseau and Sergeant Deux-Deux (pronounced "Do-Do")):
Kamrin is absolutely fascinated by Pink Panther. Not so much the cartoon, but the theme song...but not the "dead - ant" one, this one:
He turns it way up and dances to it. This is him in his PJs, watching. He insisted on wearing the heavy winter "feetie" jammies even though it is nearly the end of June. It always ends the same way, in the middle of the night, he'll get hot, strip them off, realize his room is dark and I wake up to a naked 4-year-old's butt in my face. Nice.
The reason I am so thrilled that they are watching these cartoons is not because I'm transported back to care-free memories of my own childhood, really. I've just forgotten how a person could watch an animated feature that doesn't drown itself in burp, fart and snot jokes, along with the gag inducing visuals or kids with overly large eyes and names I can't pronounce. These rely only on mind numbing, non-life-threatening violence of falling out of windows and bouncing high into outer space, hitting your hand with a hammer only to have it pulse to three times its normal size, having the fur ripped off of a tail, only to appear magically intact in the next frames and bombs that explode, but leave all limbs whole, no blood and only a blackened face. Aaah the good ol' days. (sigh)
Anywho, one downside to this channel is that Kamrin now looks for every excuse to stay up later than his bedtime to watch it. Since he's exhausted the...need for a drink or something to eat, having to pee, being scared, wanting someone to sleep with, looking for a specific stuffed animal...excuses, he needs to come up with new ones. For example; he created a drawing which he attached to his door. On it were stick figures representing Dad, Kaiden and myself. They were each circled with an 'X' through them. When questioned about the meaning of this sign, Kamrin replied that it meant these were the people who were NOT allowed into his room. "Aha. I see. Well, goodnight then," I say to him from his doorway, "I'll see you in the morning." I walk away. Join my husband in the living room to explore what OTHER channels may be available for us...like Discovery Channel or National Geographic Wild (come on people! What did you think I was talking about?) Not four minutes into channel surfing, a hear the soft pad, pad, padding of jammie-clad feet. As my son notices me looking his direction, he throws up his hands in frustration and proclaims, "GREAT! Now I can't go into my room!!"
Blink. Blink.
(He's quite the actor as he truly seems appalled by recent circumstances.) He takes me by the hand and shows me that his drawing on the door now includes a rendition of himself...surrounded by a circle with an 'X' through it.
I immediately burst out laughing. Couldn't contain that one if I had tried. He earned another 10 minutes of "up" time due to creativity. Points for this one.
The up side, besides having, oh, about 45 more channels with nothing on, is a channel called, "Boomerang." I'm sure I'm late in discovering this one. But, from what I've seen so far, it is the American Movie Channel, of kids programming. It runs the cartoons that I grew up watching, including, but not limited to:
Tom and Jerry:
Dastardly and Muttley:
And one of my all time favorites, Pink Panther (with shorts of Inspector Clouseau and Sergeant Deux-Deux (pronounced "Do-Do")):
Kamrin is absolutely fascinated by Pink Panther. Not so much the cartoon, but the theme song...but not the "dead - ant" one, this one:
He turns it way up and dances to it. This is him in his PJs, watching. He insisted on wearing the heavy winter "feetie" jammies even though it is nearly the end of June. It always ends the same way, in the middle of the night, he'll get hot, strip them off, realize his room is dark and I wake up to a naked 4-year-old's butt in my face. Nice.
 |
| The intensity! |
The reason I am so thrilled that they are watching these cartoons is not because I'm transported back to care-free memories of my own childhood, really. I've just forgotten how a person could watch an animated feature that doesn't drown itself in burp, fart and snot jokes, along with the gag inducing visuals or kids with overly large eyes and names I can't pronounce. These rely only on mind numbing, non-life-threatening violence of falling out of windows and bouncing high into outer space, hitting your hand with a hammer only to have it pulse to three times its normal size, having the fur ripped off of a tail, only to appear magically intact in the next frames and bombs that explode, but leave all limbs whole, no blood and only a blackened face. Aaah the good ol' days. (sigh)
Anywho, one downside to this channel is that Kamrin now looks for every excuse to stay up later than his bedtime to watch it. Since he's exhausted the...need for a drink or something to eat, having to pee, being scared, wanting someone to sleep with, looking for a specific stuffed animal...excuses, he needs to come up with new ones. For example; he created a drawing which he attached to his door. On it were stick figures representing Dad, Kaiden and myself. They were each circled with an 'X' through them. When questioned about the meaning of this sign, Kamrin replied that it meant these were the people who were NOT allowed into his room. "Aha. I see. Well, goodnight then," I say to him from his doorway, "I'll see you in the morning." I walk away. Join my husband in the living room to explore what OTHER channels may be available for us...like Discovery Channel or National Geographic Wild (come on people! What did you think I was talking about?) Not four minutes into channel surfing, a hear the soft pad, pad, padding of jammie-clad feet. As my son notices me looking his direction, he throws up his hands in frustration and proclaims, "GREAT! Now I can't go into my room!!"
Blink. Blink.
(He's quite the actor as he truly seems appalled by recent circumstances.) He takes me by the hand and shows me that his drawing on the door now includes a rendition of himself...surrounded by a circle with an 'X' through it.
 |
| Manipulated a bit so it was more visible since he only had a yellow colored-pencil to draw with. |
ha ha - SCORE Kamrin!!
ReplyDeleteHmm, I hated dish. One slight change in weather and poooof.. You want ornery kids,, have pink panther zap out in the middle of an epic part!
Always love the pics
~d
@Dawn - If this is what I have to deal with at four, the idea of fourteen scares the daylights out of me!
ReplyDeleteI love how kids follow their own made up rules to the letter, but none of mine. This story was too cute!
ReplyDeleteI think, reading between the lines, you underestimate yourself. You are an extraordinary mom! Keep up with follow-through - CRUCIAL and oh-so-hard for a single parent. You will reap the rewards for your diligence, I assure you! And keep em talking always with the assertion that they can tell you ANYTHING, and can ask you ANYTHING!!
ReplyDeleteThough, I'm not gonna lie - fourteen isn't a walk in the park. I will say this, for what it's worth, I just got my fourth one to age fifteen. Her older siblings are all in college. The two boys were A BREEZE compared to my girls. I pray that is your experience
I read your reply on the "pharmacy" post and i will add this one last tidbit. I didn't know about drugs either and I'm an alcoholic! I'm learning now becuase I'm in school to become a CD Counselor. But I would encourage you to learn about what's in your junior high schools and educate yourself. Then, when the time feels right bring the subject up,, bits at a time as they approach,, ahem,,, 7th grade.... Your education and the conversations with them ,, oh, and prayer, are what you can to today!
I wish I could tell you the problems are diminishing,,,,,,, not-so-much. Oh, and my kids were very involved in youth stuff at church. I genuinely believe that played a big role in them refraining.
Sorry, I write to much, such a passionate issue of mine. Just mostly wanted to say that I think,, from looking fom down here in Buffalo,, that you're doing a FINE job mom!