Family Blah, blah, blog...

So, what do you do on a cold wet rainy day in the Midwest with a three year old who is climbing the walls and potty training? Answer below.

Well today was such a day here and for those of you, who know me, know I have a love/hate relationship with the television. Love to watch really good movies/shows, but hate for my kids to be in front of it all day long. Don’t get me started about Robb, when it’s on…there isn’t another thing in the world, but the television. Therefore, in our house if you are a child, TV time is limited and mom is most likely running around turning them off and hiding remote controls.

It’s no secret that potty training is about to send me over the edge and this weekend was no exception. Robb was out of town again this weekend, so we were looking at about day 14 of no breaks for mom. Therefore, we spent as much time at home and if you are potty training in this house you were in your underwear all weekend. We were doing pretty well, so I decided to up the ante a bit and allow some TV time with the next ‘potty duty’. IT WORKED!

So, it came time to pick what we were going to watch…Jacob chose a Garth Brooks DVD that we got last Christmas. For some reason to Jacob this particular DVD can only be played in the kitchen because that is where he thinks he has a ‘better stage’. So we gathered the drum, the guitar, kid in underwear and off we went to play Garth Brooks on the ‘better stage’. It’s a DVD of him talking about his songs, and then he plays the songs. Some of the songs are videos and others are actual concert footage. Jacob talks to the crowds, while playing the guitar, and runs around just like Garth Brooks. Meanwhile, my job is to keep Isabella off the stage and explaining to him that Garth Brooks has a lot of money so he can throw down his guitar and smash it and we can not.

It was a normal ‘pretend’ play day at our house. This is usual routine when we play Garth Brooks DVD. However, today, Jacob noticed that Garth didn’t have a microphone that he sings in or holds in his hands; he had an ear piece microphone. Oh no, I knew I was in trouble when he asked about it. There go all our potty efforts of the day. He also asked if he could have a fiddle (violin) for Christmas and what could he use now to play one. That’s what they do after all on the Garth Brooks DVD. So, as I was keeping Isabella off the stage, I was also scurrying around the house finding an ear piece micro phone and a fiddle, aluminum foil – NO – Plastic wrap – NO – how about the broom – NO WAY!

Thanks the good lord this three year old has an active imagination because my efforts paid off. We used a pipe cleaner for the microphone on his ear, a wooden spoon as the fiddle, and a chop stick as the bow. All was right again in our concert world and the show went on.

This should explain the photo above. So, lesson for today…be careful what you bribe your children with and the TV is a monster sucking you into their world.

We had a fun day and hope you have one as well.

Enjoy,

Robb, Angela, Jacob, and Isabella