Yesterday morning, at 0545, we got both kids out of bed and loaded them in the car. I drove the wife to the airport where she boarded a plane for San Francisco. She will return Thursday evening, so I had four days and three nights of hard fighting before I will be relieved. I'm used to dealing with the kids during the day without much help, but it is definitely nice knowing that in the event of screaming, blood loss, or general Daddy is going to snap emergency, the wife can run out of her office to save the day. When I take Lily upstairs for a nap, she can help with any potty needs or random injuries that might occur during a 3 year old being 3. This is the first time that I've had to handle the kids for more than 24 hours or so without any backup.
First thing when we woke them up in the morning, both kids gave me a look like, "Why are you waking me up, I was sleeping so well." I've seen that look before, from their Mother, when I'm leaving in the morning and I wake her up to tell her goodbye. I get the stink eye and yelled at. In the case of the kids, the stink eye was actually somewhat rewarding. Pretty sure I get to wake them up at least 300 more times between the hours of 1 AM and 6 AM for fun before the score is even.
Both were loaded into the care in their flame-retardant pajamas, so they'd be safe in the event of jet fuel explosion, and were very quiet on the way to the airport. Until Owen saw the planes and his quote was timeless. "WHHHOOOOOOOAAAAA!!!!" He came alive when he realized there were planes about. We've been to the airport overlook a lot to watch the planes take off and land, definitely one of his favorite activities, and here he was staring at them closer than ever before. Then he seemed to grasp that his Mommy was going to get into one of them and ACTUALLY GET TO FLY IN AN AIRPLANE!!!!!!!!
As we were leaving the airplane, he had tons of questions. "Where is Mommy going?" "Is she getting into an airplane?" "Can I get in an airplane?" "Can I go to Market Street, get Dungeness Crab from a street vendor, and see the Golden Gate?" Maybe that last one was me. I told him Mommy was going to San Francisco. Not to be one-upped, he announced he was going to North Carolina. Good job world traveler. Of course, he thinks he lives on North Carolina Street in the town of North Carolina, outside the city of North Carolina, in the United States of North Carolina. We're working on his address, but it's slow going.
Throughout the the last two days, he's been asking where Mommy is and needing her for everything. Including the screaming fit I twittered about yesterday when he wanted to show his balloon to Mommy. I've been trying to explain that Mommy is out of town at a very important work conference. Since his Mommy usually goes to work in her pajamas with bed head, he's just not getting this. So I've started to incorporate little facts about Mommy's business trip.
I told him that Mommy went to help Gru stop Vector during the moon heist. He's really into the minions from Despicable Me so that was pretty impressive. Mommy is helping Sir Topham Hatt eliminate confusion and delay on the Sodor Railway. I also explained that Mommy was helping Bob the Builder fix his small business software. Can we customize your import and create a new client field? YES WE CAN! At least I think I've heard some of those words from the wife when I pretend to pay attention to her talk about the day.
With all the rain yesterday, we generally spent most of our time knocking out videos and grocery shopping. The menu while the wife is gone includes pizza, macaroni and cheese with hot dogs, and peanut butter and jelly. I normally do all the cooking, but I'm going for things that take minimal time to prepare and include the maximum amount of gluten that the wife can't eat. Besides, he who turns his back on a 3 year old for more than 8 seconds will rue the day. While loading the car for various errands today and spending 3 minutes not paying full attention to him, he managed to find two crayons somewhere in the house. Normally, he couldn't give a flying stinky about coloring, but decided our couch needed some new orange and red lines. Of course crayon is the one thing I can;t get out of a microfiber couch. I like to be optimistic, so I'm glad he's finally into coloring...let me just burn these sharpies first.
Both kids have been in bed and asleep by about 7:10 so far. I'm thinking about setting alarms to wake them up at 3 AM so they'll be ready for bed time about 3 PM. It's never too early to start conditioning them for having kids of their own, right?
CK
Tuesday, May 15, 2012
Tuesday, May 8, 2012
Swimming Lessons
On March 31st, there was an incident. We went down to Greenville, SC for a family wedding and my parents are awesome and agreed to come down to keep an eye on their grandkids, as well as my nephew while we partied down. We set them up in a local hotel with an indoor pool and took care of the pizza during the wedding. While we were getting ready for the evening out, Owen went with his Nana and Papa to go swimming in the hotel pool. At one point, Nana told Owen to stay on the steps going into the pool while she took the 3 steps from the stairs to the door to let Papa into the pool area. When she turned around, 4 seconds later, Owen was gone. He was standing on the bottom of the pool in 3 and a half feet of water, waiting for someone to come fish him out.
This was totally Owen's fault for bad listening reasons, but it also firmly established something. He needed swimming lessons as soon as possible. We spend entirely too much time on the lake boating to have him not become an expert swimmer. Don't make me think of him stepping off a shelf in the lake and going under. When we got home from that weekend, he was enrolled in the next available swim class. My parents called us about 5 minutes after the registration and asked if we were going to get him swimming lessons and offered to pay for them. We graciously agreed to let them.
Last year, we tried to work with him a little bit in the various pool outings, but he loves to play with us too much. He doesn't want to put his head underwater and blow bubbles when he can splash around with Mom and Dad. We also have him in floats the whole time because we don't want to pluck a kid off the bottom every 15 seconds. Not to mention the fact that we really have no idea how to teach a kid to swim.
Swim class was really helpful and he finished his last class in the first series today. Not only did he pass the class, he aced everything including the Spiderman, Superman Arms, and the Spongebob. I'm not really sure what any of those things mean, but I sure am impressed my son can do stuff that those three can. I really wish that there was some sort of funny incident that allowed me to crack wise on his class, but the teachers were on top of them and all the kids did a really good job of bowing to the peer pressure of not sinking to the bottom and listening to the instructors. There was one time he leaned forward really far and almost toppled in, but a teacher noticed it and got him in line. My only complaint is that it was really focused on getting him comfortable with the pool and the basics of sticking your head under water without ingesting anything, but it didn't go too much further than that.
So we start level 2 of swim classes next Tuesday. As Owen will tell you "I don't want to sink anymore." I don't want you to either.
CK
Amendment One
Today is primary day here in North Carolina. We're picking people to run in the November elections, but we're also voting on a state constitutional amendment. Basically, if you vote for it, you're saying marriage is only between a man and a woman. If you vote against it, you are saying marriage is not legally defined as a man and woman. I am a member of a public speaking club and there are three topics you are supposed to avoid: sex, religion, and politics. I generally try to avoid these three topics within my blog as I want it dedicated to the goofy things that my children do and my observations as I live life with them. I've really been debating whether I wanted to comment on Amendment One or just ignore it since it touches on all three of the subjects that you're supposed to avoid in polite conversation. If you don't care what I think, please read no further since I have no illusions that I'll be changing any minds or making a difference with the few friends and family that might read my blog.
In this country, we tell our children to be themselves and we tell them that they can be anything they want. They can be an astronaut, they can be president, they can be a baseball player, or a movie star. We also tell them that if you work hard, you can achieve the American dream which is often defined as the white picket fence with 2.5 kids, the dog, and two cars in the garage. Now that I'm older, I'm as happy as I've ever been even though we're 0.5 kids short. I think we make up for it by having 2x the number of dogs specified. If my kids learn nothing else from me, the two things that I want them to learn is that working hard and taking responsibility for yourself is going to get you a long way in this world. If you do those two things, you probably can do anything you want to do. Chances are, my kids will not grow up to be an astronaut since NASA is being cut back, there's only a few people that will get to be president in their lifetime, and they're probably going to be too busy in Mensa and getting advanced degrees on full scholarship to have time to be movie stars. So realistically, they will probably grow up, get a job or start their own small business, and have the house, the 2.5 kids, dog, and 2 cars, right? Not necessarily if Amendment One passes, which is why I've decided to vote against it.
1. Marriage that is not between a man and a woman is already illegal in NC, so we're voting on a redundancy. In this economy, why are we wasting time and resources on something that has already "addressed" by the people voting for the amendment? Further, marriage is established in the church by God, so why is the government getting involved in a religious institution at all?
2. Why would I want to take anything off the table that might make my children happy? I love being married to a wonderful wife and it's a strong commitment that I have made publicly to love her unconditionally. It's weird and strange, but our relationship got much better and stronger after marriage. I will also love my kids unconditionally and my hope is that one day, they too will find a partner that will have the same respect and love for them that my wife and I have for each other. If one or both of my kids is/are gay, that hope isn't going to change.
3. I'm definitely in favor of less government involvement in just about all facets of personal lives. Between terrorism, unemployment rates, gas prices, utility prices, corruption in government, wild stock market swings, outsourcing of jobs, and the housing market it seems like we have a heck of a lot more stuff to worry about that affects much larger portions of the population before we get to gay marriage. Plus, I can't think of a time when I have said, "Thank goodness the government stepped in, everything is perfect now!"
It basically boils down to the fact that I'm concerned about me. I want my children to be happy and have as many options as possible open to them. I want to see the look on my son's face when his bride (or groom) walks into view. I want to escort my little girl down the aisle or across the sand of a beach or see her face light up. I really don't care. I want them to have grandkids I can spoil, whether they're biological or adopted. The Muppets have it right when they sang, "Life's a happy song when there's someone by your side to sing along."
If you don't like gay marriage, don't get gay married. If it one day becomes legal, don't attend gay marriages of your friends or family. But don't you dare tell my kids that they can't do something. Because they CAN do anything they want, like becoming the first gay astronaut president.
CK
In this country, we tell our children to be themselves and we tell them that they can be anything they want. They can be an astronaut, they can be president, they can be a baseball player, or a movie star. We also tell them that if you work hard, you can achieve the American dream which is often defined as the white picket fence with 2.5 kids, the dog, and two cars in the garage. Now that I'm older, I'm as happy as I've ever been even though we're 0.5 kids short. I think we make up for it by having 2x the number of dogs specified. If my kids learn nothing else from me, the two things that I want them to learn is that working hard and taking responsibility for yourself is going to get you a long way in this world. If you do those two things, you probably can do anything you want to do. Chances are, my kids will not grow up to be an astronaut since NASA is being cut back, there's only a few people that will get to be president in their lifetime, and they're probably going to be too busy in Mensa and getting advanced degrees on full scholarship to have time to be movie stars. So realistically, they will probably grow up, get a job or start their own small business, and have the house, the 2.5 kids, dog, and 2 cars, right? Not necessarily if Amendment One passes, which is why I've decided to vote against it.
1. Marriage that is not between a man and a woman is already illegal in NC, so we're voting on a redundancy. In this economy, why are we wasting time and resources on something that has already "addressed" by the people voting for the amendment? Further, marriage is established in the church by God, so why is the government getting involved in a religious institution at all?
2. Why would I want to take anything off the table that might make my children happy? I love being married to a wonderful wife and it's a strong commitment that I have made publicly to love her unconditionally. It's weird and strange, but our relationship got much better and stronger after marriage. I will also love my kids unconditionally and my hope is that one day, they too will find a partner that will have the same respect and love for them that my wife and I have for each other. If one or both of my kids is/are gay, that hope isn't going to change.
3. I'm definitely in favor of less government involvement in just about all facets of personal lives. Between terrorism, unemployment rates, gas prices, utility prices, corruption in government, wild stock market swings, outsourcing of jobs, and the housing market it seems like we have a heck of a lot more stuff to worry about that affects much larger portions of the population before we get to gay marriage. Plus, I can't think of a time when I have said, "Thank goodness the government stepped in, everything is perfect now!"
It basically boils down to the fact that I'm concerned about me. I want my children to be happy and have as many options as possible open to them. I want to see the look on my son's face when his bride (or groom) walks into view. I want to escort my little girl down the aisle or across the sand of a beach or see her face light up. I really don't care. I want them to have grandkids I can spoil, whether they're biological or adopted. The Muppets have it right when they sang, "Life's a happy song when there's someone by your side to sing along."
If you don't like gay marriage, don't get gay married. If it one day becomes legal, don't attend gay marriages of your friends or family. But don't you dare tell my kids that they can't do something. Because they CAN do anything they want, like becoming the first gay astronaut president.
CK
Monday, April 30, 2012
Flame Retardant Pajamas
40 pounds of sausage in a casing designed for 30 pounds. Yep, that's pretty much what Owen looks like in 4T pajamas. I really have no idea why kid's pajamas are all flame retardant, I'm sure there's one kid somewhere that would have been saved if they hadn't been wearing loose fitting jammies. Seems to me that ALL clothing for my boy should be flame retardant since he's far more likely to be close to our oven and the fireplace than making a flambe in his room. I don't think he's overweight. Sure, he's built like a 3rd round fullback, but he's definitely not a 1st round left tackle. Based on my informal survey of pot-bellies on 3 yr olds at the playground and in Owen's swim class, I'd say he's about average to above average pot-bellied. It's when I watch him running over people with those big thighs, my God a pre-schooler, that I can tell where all the meat is stored. His legs are massive, just like his Daddy. I would never ever ever ever ever
ever ever ever ever
ever ever ever ever
ever ever ever ever
ever ever ever ever say just like his Mommy.
The tops to flame retardant pjs are fine on him, but the bottoms are always really tight. Out of curiosity, I googled flame retardant pajamas and discovered there is a huge controversy. I knew there was some question as to whether the chemicals used to make them flame retardant were safe, but like everything else related to kids, it's evil and bad and they're going to kill our kids. I cruised through a couple of "Why Flame Retardant Pajamas Are Bad" pages and the crux of the argument seems to be that you don't know what chemicals and in what concentrations. My favorite post was from a Mom of two kids named Birch and Willow. I'll let you guess whether or not she switched from chemically jammies to organic untreated cotton. Her post was actually way better than the "CHEMICALS ARE EVIL!!!!" information most people put up.
Basically, in the 1970s, the Consumer Product Safety Commission decided that kids pajamas needed to be exposed to an open flame for 3 seconds. So various chemicals were used and had to be effective enough to still prevent lil' Junior from roasting after 50 runs through the laundry. Of course, some of these compounds were linked to genetic problems, damage to the nervous and reproductive systems, and possible carcinogens. I decided to google a second search phrase. "Why the hell do kid's pajamas have to be flame retardant?" Nothing of note. If you know why, I would be really curious to find out why in the world pajamas need to be flame-resistant.
In the meantime, I'm not going to worry about it too much. I probably looked like an over-stuffed sausage in the late 1970s and early 80s at bed time too, and I am clearly a genius, handsome, and very good at reproducing. Besides, organic cotton jammies are like $30 and have prints like free-range stallions, trees, and sea turtles being born and making the arduous trek back to the sea. For $10, I can get him spaceship, Star Wars, or Batman pjs. A more effective way to avoid the boy igniting himself is to take away the book of matches and flammable super glue I'm using to encourage construction of a mini-log cabin.
CK
Thursday, April 19, 2012
PSA: "The Day The Dinosaurs Died"
WARNING: Do not buy, checkout of the local library, or even open the book "The Day The Dinosaurs Died". Wow, is this book terrible for kids. I started to read it to Owen for bedtime last night and it starts with a T-rex running off smaller dinosaurs to steal the dead dinosaur they were eating on. While Mr. Rex is snacking, an asteroid is getting closer, but he eats his meal without noticing. When he looks up, it's too late.
Then, we turn to the next page and Pteranodons are blown out of the sky by the explosion, rocks boil away, everything is killed instantly. A few pages later, we meet the Triceratops grazing peacefully a few thousand miles away. Sure, the flash of light is scary, but they go back to eating. But they're not safe because there is a wall of fire is closing in around them. But they're not going to be killed by fire because there is a tsunami that's going to put out the fire and drown them all.
Some dinosaurs are lucky enough to survive the instant death by asteroid, fireballs, and tsunamis. Yay, dinosaurs live through the disaster to reproduce and repopulate the Earth? Nope, those ones are going to starve to death because they can;t find food while picking through the ashes.
When the survivors finally starve to death, at least you get to be a fossil in a museum. Again, wishful thinking, how about you get to be rodent food? And the illustrations of the rodents are not friendly, they're frightening. I made the mistake of starting to read this book at bedtime. Very quickly, I was changing sentences from 'Tyrannosaurus Rex died instantly' to 'T-Rex had a terrible, horrible, no-good, very bad day.' The Triceratops were not painfully slaughtered in a fire/tsunami, they were 'punished for not listening to their Daddies.' Then I gave up and just started flipping pages as quickly as possible. When the evil rats show up to eat the dinosaur that just starved to death, Owen stopped me and announced, "Look at the baby mice!" Yeah, baby mice that are going to help that dinosaur...
We immediately removed that book from the room and it went back to the library immediately. Even before I could scan in some of the pages for this post. I made it up to him by reading a book about people getting free dinosaurs with the purchase of a dozen doughnuts. Talk about a win-win. Daddy gets doughnuts and Owen gets a LIVE pet dinosaur according to that book. Most importantly, Daddy doesn't get up at 2 AM to console a boy crying about the horrible deaths 65 million years ago.
CK
Then, we turn to the next page and Pteranodons are blown out of the sky by the explosion, rocks boil away, everything is killed instantly. A few pages later, we meet the Triceratops grazing peacefully a few thousand miles away. Sure, the flash of light is scary, but they go back to eating. But they're not safe because there is a wall of fire is closing in around them. But they're not going to be killed by fire because there is a tsunami that's going to put out the fire and drown them all.
Some dinosaurs are lucky enough to survive the instant death by asteroid, fireballs, and tsunamis. Yay, dinosaurs live through the disaster to reproduce and repopulate the Earth? Nope, those ones are going to starve to death because they can;t find food while picking through the ashes.
When the survivors finally starve to death, at least you get to be a fossil in a museum. Again, wishful thinking, how about you get to be rodent food? And the illustrations of the rodents are not friendly, they're frightening. I made the mistake of starting to read this book at bedtime. Very quickly, I was changing sentences from 'Tyrannosaurus Rex died instantly' to 'T-Rex had a terrible, horrible, no-good, very bad day.' The Triceratops were not painfully slaughtered in a fire/tsunami, they were 'punished for not listening to their Daddies.' Then I gave up and just started flipping pages as quickly as possible. When the evil rats show up to eat the dinosaur that just starved to death, Owen stopped me and announced, "Look at the baby mice!" Yeah, baby mice that are going to help that dinosaur...
We immediately removed that book from the room and it went back to the library immediately. Even before I could scan in some of the pages for this post. I made it up to him by reading a book about people getting free dinosaurs with the purchase of a dozen doughnuts. Talk about a win-win. Daddy gets doughnuts and Owen gets a LIVE pet dinosaur according to that book. Most importantly, Daddy doesn't get up at 2 AM to console a boy crying about the horrible deaths 65 million years ago.
CK
Wednesday, April 11, 2012
The Gloriousness of One Year
Typically, I focus on the screwball antics of a 3 and a half year old and the wake of destruction he leaves behind. But this post is going to focus on the mini girl version of me. Now that she's 1, she's making leaps and bounds in her motor skills, mobility, and (most importantly) convenience for me.
I have always had trouble with feeding times and keeping her focused with the boy running around. And when Mommy is present, she's got the head on a swivel trying to keep track of her instead of focusing on the fatty caloric goodness on a baby spoon I'm trying to shovel in. Now that her fine motor skills have improved to the point she can grasp peas and other small food items, I just put a smorgasbord of things on her tray to let her decide what she eats and what goes to the dogs. Lily does pretty well with the arrangement and the dogs make out like bandits.
I'm also pretty thrilled that she's starting to grasp the concept of clothing. Rather than fighting to get her into all the cute pink outfits, she's starting to help by pushing her arms straight out. She still wants to get down as soon as possible and get away from Daddy, but it's a lot easier. I'm also thrilled that getting her arms out of the NASA astronaut level safety harness has suddenly gotten a lot better. Normally, she just screams and flails while I struggle to squeeze crazy baby arms out of those tight quarters. It's next to impossible. Suddenly, she gets it and folds those lil' chubby arms up to pull them out herself. It's much easier and those 20 seconds allow me to get to Owen faster. Hint: if you have two children, always get the immobile one out of the car first, then go for the mobile one so it's not running across the parking lot/traffic. Same getting back into the car, corral the more exuberant one first. He is usually upset about something, so getting him subdued faster is always more gooder.
It is kind of nice having her crawling around and entertaining herself more. Sure, I have to be on top of things to ensure that the downstairs gates/bathroom door/front door/back porch door/basement door/upstairs gates/dog water/dog food in bowls are all secured. Not to mention having to make sure the potty in Owen's room is ALWAYS empty just in case she gets over there. She spends tons of time crawling around and throwing toys, figuring things out, and practicing standing up. Instead of having to move her from exer-saucer to bouncer to random spot on the floor, she's much happier for longer periods of time. Another downside is that I do have to spend some time playing referee. Often putting Owen in timeout because he just ripped one of Lily's toys out of her hand. Maybe that's not a downside. Maybe he'll be the best little sharer and listener in the whole pre-school in the fall. Probably not.
One of the best parts of turning 1 is her personality really exploding. I spent some time this afternoon flinging a giggling kid around (gently) and tickling baby ribs. So danged cute with the smile and her little teeth sticking out, dimples, and the grunting chuckle. Just awesome. I had to work for the littlest grin forever and now she's happy as can be. Wait, I just realized she has figured out how to manipulate me. She's been doing it all along! Her brother always ends up in timeout, I dance like her pet monkey for minor approval, and she gets whatever she wants. How did I just get an email confirmation that I bought a pony?
CK
I have always had trouble with feeding times and keeping her focused with the boy running around. And when Mommy is present, she's got the head on a swivel trying to keep track of her instead of focusing on the fatty caloric goodness on a baby spoon I'm trying to shovel in. Now that her fine motor skills have improved to the point she can grasp peas and other small food items, I just put a smorgasbord of things on her tray to let her decide what she eats and what goes to the dogs. Lily does pretty well with the arrangement and the dogs make out like bandits.
I'm also pretty thrilled that she's starting to grasp the concept of clothing. Rather than fighting to get her into all the cute pink outfits, she's starting to help by pushing her arms straight out. She still wants to get down as soon as possible and get away from Daddy, but it's a lot easier. I'm also thrilled that getting her arms out of the NASA astronaut level safety harness has suddenly gotten a lot better. Normally, she just screams and flails while I struggle to squeeze crazy baby arms out of those tight quarters. It's next to impossible. Suddenly, she gets it and folds those lil' chubby arms up to pull them out herself. It's much easier and those 20 seconds allow me to get to Owen faster. Hint: if you have two children, always get the immobile one out of the car first, then go for the mobile one so it's not running across the parking lot/traffic. Same getting back into the car, corral the more exuberant one first. He is usually upset about something, so getting him subdued faster is always more gooder.
It is kind of nice having her crawling around and entertaining herself more. Sure, I have to be on top of things to ensure that the downstairs gates/bathroom door/front door/back porch door/basement door/upstairs gates/dog water/dog food in bowls are all secured. Not to mention having to make sure the potty in Owen's room is ALWAYS empty just in case she gets over there. She spends tons of time crawling around and throwing toys, figuring things out, and practicing standing up. Instead of having to move her from exer-saucer to bouncer to random spot on the floor, she's much happier for longer periods of time. Another downside is that I do have to spend some time playing referee. Often putting Owen in timeout because he just ripped one of Lily's toys out of her hand. Maybe that's not a downside. Maybe he'll be the best little sharer and listener in the whole pre-school in the fall. Probably not.
One of the best parts of turning 1 is her personality really exploding. I spent some time this afternoon flinging a giggling kid around (gently) and tickling baby ribs. So danged cute with the smile and her little teeth sticking out, dimples, and the grunting chuckle. Just awesome. I had to work for the littlest grin forever and now she's happy as can be. Wait, I just realized she has figured out how to manipulate me. She's been doing it all along! Her brother always ends up in timeout, I dance like her pet monkey for minor approval, and she gets whatever she wants. How did I just get an email confirmation that I bought a pony?
CK
Wednesday, April 4, 2012
Bob the Builder
Forget Thomas. Forget Fireman Sam. Forget Super Why and all the other shows on the planet. Bob the Builder is the new sheriff in town. It's got everything that a 3 year old needs. Construction equipment, animated characters, annoying voices that drive Mommy and Daddy up the wall, and ridiculous story lines. You can tell when Owen loves something because we are not allowed to enjoy it with him. As he's singing the wonderful Bob the Builder theme song, we cannot even think about bobbing our head and yelling "Yes we can!" to Bob's question "Can we fix it?" If either of us dare get involved with the theme song, he will turn, stomp, and scream at the top of his lungs "NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YOU CAN'T DO THAT!!!!!!!"
I don't see why Bob is any different from the average kids show. One of Bob's machines steps out of line by doing a job too early, their own way, or by destroying something through carelessness. Pretty much exactly what Thomas the Tank Engine does. Or Chuggington. Or Norman Price in the Fireman Sam series. Bob should send the offending piece of equipment to the scrap heap and buy a better model. But no, he laughs it off and spends his client's dollars and time to fix it. Probably with a big change order.
I suppose that even a kids show needs a little drama to make things more interesting. Everyone wants to see a crash. Especially when it's a big cloud of dust and a bunch of cartoon limbs strewn around. At least that would be more entertaining to Daddy until it's 2 AM and there's a 3 yr old boy having nightmares. The lack of serious consequences is good for the little ones and their imaginations. But, I'm sure that's the main reason my boy has never had a cautious moment. He sees Scratch the Excavator get crushed under tons of rock without a...well...scratch. His scraped knees can't possibly be caused by the gigantic feet and clumsiness I blessed him with.
I think I'm going to start my own kid's series. Maybe a giant purple dinosaur that does nothing but hug people and provide good lessons. I think everyone would enjoy that, and my boy would stop face planting on concrete.
CK
I don't see why Bob is any different from the average kids show. One of Bob's machines steps out of line by doing a job too early, their own way, or by destroying something through carelessness. Pretty much exactly what Thomas the Tank Engine does. Or Chuggington. Or Norman Price in the Fireman Sam series. Bob should send the offending piece of equipment to the scrap heap and buy a better model. But no, he laughs it off and spends his client's dollars and time to fix it. Probably with a big change order.
I suppose that even a kids show needs a little drama to make things more interesting. Everyone wants to see a crash. Especially when it's a big cloud of dust and a bunch of cartoon limbs strewn around. At least that would be more entertaining to Daddy until it's 2 AM and there's a 3 yr old boy having nightmares. The lack of serious consequences is good for the little ones and their imaginations. But, I'm sure that's the main reason my boy has never had a cautious moment. He sees Scratch the Excavator get crushed under tons of rock without a...well...scratch. His scraped knees can't possibly be caused by the gigantic feet and clumsiness I blessed him with.
I think I'm going to start my own kid's series. Maybe a giant purple dinosaur that does nothing but hug people and provide good lessons. I think everyone would enjoy that, and my boy would stop face planting on concrete.
CK
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