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Straight From the Bottle

True Mom Confession: Sesame Street is my Snooze Button

I'm not a big TV person. I have my four shows: Big Love, Entourage, Lost and Project Runway and the occasional bad reality moment: Sons of Hollywood for instance, which I have decided is the greatest reality TV show of all-time. Randy Spelling kissing his father's star on the Walk of Fame in memoriam? Sean Stewart calling himself "A Ferrari Body with Jetta Brain...?" These are two moments in a million best-of-hits. But anyway...

 

I would gladly delete every single one of my shows from TIVO to insure we have an infinite amount of Sesame Street(s) and Play With me Sesame(s) ready to rock at all time. Those are Archer's shows. His ONLY shows. And they have become my only salvation after anything less than four hours of sleep.

 

I realize I have publicly claimed to have become a morning person since becoming a mom but I totally lied. (Sorry, Babycenter.) I suck at getting up before 8am, especially because I'm usually not asleep until after 3. And anytime before 7:00? Forget about it, which is why, now that Archer is getting up at 6:30, I have had to make some  "arrangements."

 

IMG_1506

 

Four hours isn't that bad, I know, and I realize there are people who have it far worse than I do and if I could go to sleep at 10pm and live with myself I would, but I can't. There's not enough time to get it all done unless I wait for Archer to fall asleep, and then work through the night. Especially right now, with a nanny on a two-week vacation and a book deadline in two weeks and two days. 

 

Fortunately for my career and unfortuantely for my state of mind, I never got the "but there's no time!" thing. If you really want to do something, you make time. Period. Whatever that something may be, Because there IS time. There is always time. It just depends what you are willing to sacrifice. Favorite TV shows for instance. Well-being. Happiness, Social Life... And of course, sleep. Except I need my six hours, or at the very least, five.  So Sesame Street at 7:00 am it is and will stay for a while.
 
I realize in the world of by-the-book parenting, waking up at 6:30, turning on the TV and going back to bed is frowned upon a big, big way which is why I don't subscribe to by-the-book parenting. By-the-book parenting is for by-the-book parents and by-the-book kids, which is sad for them because HELLOOOO... Sesame Street is the ULTIMATE snooze button. Sesame Street IS THE ANSWER: One full hour of commercial free toddler-crack and I can rest easy knowing he's in the hands of Mr. Noodle and Supergrover: a jet-setting klutz and a fifty-year-old toddler. (Perfect!)

 

So I guess I am a TV person and Goddamnit, now everybody knows the truth! Sesame Street is my salvation, the difference between doing it all and doing it all badly.

 

Viva Los Oscar El Groucho y Trash Gordon y Todos Los Amigos de Sesame!


And... Now, if you'll excuse me... I'm going back to bed.

 

*** 



Comments

 

Amanda said:

Blue's Clues is my snooze button, too bad it is only a half hour show!

July 1, 2007 12:25 AM
 

Sheri said:

Everything in moderation.  Really.  A half hour a day isn't gonna kill him, especially since it is Sesame Street.  It isn't like you are making him watch "Debbie Does Dallas" or "Texas Chainsaw Massacre".  Enjoy whatever sleep you can get.

July 1, 2007 2:18 AM
 

Jeannie said:

Curious George is the only way I get to take a shower. I see nothing wrong with a little tv. We don't have cable so my 2 year old son Caden watches PBS.  I do think it's better that he doesn't watch commercials. Hip Hip Hooray for Curious George!!

July 1, 2007 10:15 AM
 

Rebecca said:

I have a high amount of respect and admiration for The Wiggles, now that I became a mom. Whatever keeps your child interested so you can get some sleep(or empty the dishwasher) is a godsend in my book.

July 1, 2007 3:26 PM
 

GirlsGoneChild said:

Amen, ladies. PBS for president!

July 1, 2007 4:41 PM
 

sarzini said:

10 minutes of Teletubbies is how I cut my daughter's fingernails.  Only time she'll sit semi-still and let me do it.  Plus it is somewhat hilarious to watch her expression trying to decipher what exactly Tinky Winky is saying to her.  

Whatever helps get you and Archer through the day is perfectly fine.

July 2, 2007 12:55 PM
 

jjlibra said:

just wait until he gets a little older and you learn to put cereal in a bowl with a spoon and just enough milk in a little plastic cup the night before so you can sleep on the couch while he makes his own breakfast while watching Guy Smiley et al.- not that i've ever done that. i swear.

and of all reality shows- Sons of Hollywood?? i guess watching weintraub get pummeled with paint balls was funny but there are way better shows than that. have you seen Age of Love?? hilarious! and i pray every night that they will bring back Temptation Island!! May name is Jessica and i am a reality tv-a-holic (hello jessica!)

~jjlibra

July 2, 2007 5:37 PM
 

Mom2Two said:

Ummm...this morning my infant got up at 5AM and wanted to stay up.  So I fed her, stuck her in her swing with a paci and a pile of toys in her lap and went back to bed for awhile.  So somehow I think Sesame Street is just fine...

I'd be a great morning person if I could get into bed before midnight.

July 2, 2007 8:07 PM
 

LogicalMama said:

You gotta check out Gerald McBoingBoing!!

July 12, 2007 3:11 AM

About GirlsGoneChild

Sometimes I rhyme: http://www.girlsgonechild.blogspot.com.

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rebecca woolf

Rebecca Woolf in LA

Who says becoming a mom means succumbing to laser tattoo removal and moving to the suburbs? This young writer and mother of one gives it to you Straight From the Bottle.

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