Thursday, February 24, 2011

Consumerism

I'm not sure whether to be impressed or frightened by this -- help me decide.

Tonight, when O and I were driving home, we were stopped at a red light next to an office building. O looked at the sign and said, "Mom, is that insurance?" I made him repeat it because I wanted to be sure that's what he was saying, because, in fact, he was looking at an American Family Insurance sign. We're not entirely sure where he picked that up, but we're thinking he saw it on a commercial somewhere and got the logo stuck in his head.

It's not the first time something like this has happened. A month or so ago, he was in the backseat talking to himself and started saying, "Boo hoo! They like customers, I like cash!" He kept repeating it and we had no idea where he'd gotten it. Colin suggested I Google it and sure enough, it was a line from a Southwest Airlines commercial that he had likely seen during the football playoff games.

And around Christmas, he was playing with his phone and pretending to talk to "Peggy" -- a character in a Discover card ad. (I had to Google that one, too.)

So, that gets me back to my first point -- I don't quite know what to do with this. Maybe we're just better at tuning out the ads and he picks up more of the details and the stories being told. Maybe we should offer him up to a researcher on how kids interact with advertising. Maybe we should be impressed with his concentration and recall. Maybe we should stop letting him watch so much television (he really doesn't watch that much -- some Curious George, news and sports on weekends).

Thursday, February 17, 2011

Announcer

Overheard in the backseat, says Colin: "This is News 3 weather!"

Maybe he's watching a little too much news.

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Tired

The last time I posted, we were getting ready to move O to a toddler bed. He was really excited about it, so we moved the bed in and trashed the crib (long story but acting on advice from the Consumer Product Safety Commission). But it didn't take him long to figure out the bed meant mobility and a way of engaging us after bedtime. Add that to his disposition as a very active boy and you have the recipe for some very long nights...and early mornings. Asleep at 10 p.m., up at 5:45 a.m. So we continue to search for the magic solution that will keep him in bed and help him wind down, but we haven't found it yet. (I came close tonight - a CD of Curious George stories got him to be still in bed, but he didn't drift off until after 10 p.m.) let's just hope this is his 2-and-a-half-year-old phase.

Despite the circles under his eyes - yes, it about makes me cry to see them - he's still delightful. He's really good at matching the pictures in a Memory game we got him for Valentine's Day and his ability to remember lyrics and lines from movies astounds me. He loves to know who everyone is on the news and is still talking about going to the TV station with his dad a few weeks ago.

More soon when we all get some sleep.