We took Charlie to see a matinee of Open Season tonight.
It rocked. We absolutely loved it.
Whoever was responsible for writing it must absolutely hate rabbits though. Porr furry critters.
Well worth the price of admission.
Archive for September, 2006
Charlie walked out of the bathroom tonight and yelled for me.
“DAD!”
“What’s wrong Charlie?”
“Dad, I have a bad news and good news. The bad news is the toilet is plugged. The good news is I just pee’d in it.”
After he helped me fix it with the “unplugger” he ran out and told Lori:
“I have good news and no bad news. The good new is we fixed the toilet.”
I just can’t do justice to stories like this in text. You just need to hear them to get the full effect.
Random Posts
I’m a big believer that it’s the parent’s responsibility to monitor and judge the types of programming and entertainment that their children are viewing.
We actively watch tv, play games, and visit websites with Charlie, and it’s very common to hear us say, “No, we don’t want you watching that. Maybe you can watch it when you get bigger.”
We are pretty liberal with what we let Charlie watch compared to many parents, but we have a definite line that we don’t cross. We don’t let him watch or even be in the room for any of the prime-time crime dramas, he doesn’t get to watch certain mis-labeled children shows like “Billy & Mandy”, We don’t let him play games where the object is to mow-down everyone with an AK-47, and songs that compete for the most frequent use of the F-bomb are definitely taboo. The list goes on and on and it’s still pretty damn long.
We do let him watch a fair number of shows that Lori and I enjoy that are really intended for adult audiences, but we have a pretty good “family” time watching them together. I think we’ve gotten pretty good at deciding what shows to let Charlie watch and what shows we should avoid. There’s plenty of info around to help you judge whether a show is appropriate, and you can always watch one or two of them to get the flavor before you let your kid watch it. Some of the shows we watch together include Amazing Race, American Idol, Rockstar, some sitcoms, and most recently Survivor: Cook Islands. If anything, I think there has been a real educational benefit in watching shows like these together.
My problem is with the commercials. There is NO WAY to know what they are going to throw at you. Lately I’ve noticed a real upswing in the number of ultra-violent or scary commercials for upcoming movies or tv shows played during shows that we have already decided are alright for our family. I can’t even start to tell you the number of times I’ve had to jump for a remote control to turn off a commercial for a movie like “Pulse” or “JackAss 2.”
To finally get to the point, this week while watching Survivor with Charlie, it hits the commercial break towards the end of the show. At like 8:50 pm a commercial for The Late Show with David Letterman comes on. The commercial shows clips from a ventriliquist/dummy act. The only sound bite they decided to air from the act was the dummy yelling “SHUT THE HELL UP” to someone. The sound bite was so dominant in the spot, and so unexpected, that Charlie IMMEDIATELY picked up on it and yelled “SHUT THE HELL UP!”
Now, the side of me that pretty much finds humor in about anything thought it was was kinda funny. Hearing a near-5 year old yell “SHUT THE HELL UP!” is funny. I think it’s a universal truth, hearing a kid drop an unexpected swear word - funny. You just don’t want your kids growing up knowing that. It will get un-funny real quick.
Now, the other side of me, the concerned parent side, is a bit ticked-off. Like most parents, we are really trying to keep Charlie from using “bad” words, and telling someone to shut-up is considered to be just as bad in our house. Having him exposed to both of them from a TV commercial just isn’t right. I really don’t want Charlie taking this new phrase to pre-school with him next week. I’m sure his teachers will really appreciate it if Charlie turns and yells “SHUT THE HELL UP!” the next time he gets frustrated with one of his classmates.
So, I’d really like to be able to throw out a quick message to the people responsible for these questionable commercials:
“Please please please, SHUT THE HELL UP!”
Random Posts
We were headed to the Johnny Appleseed Festival this morning. As we were passing all of the people walking to the festival that didn’t want to pay for parking, we noticed a twenty-something couple sitting on the side of the road (probably taking a break). I’m guessing they were boyfriend and girlfriend because right as we passed them, we got to see boyfriend bend over and stick girlfriend’s foot in his mouth.
Lori and I let out a collective “uugggggghhhh.” Then she glanced at me and looked back out the window and said “Get a room!” She wasn’t really trying to say it loud enough for them to hear, it was more of a way to let out some of that built up ickyness you feel after seeing something like that. Besides, we were driving and they were at least a good 20 yards behind us by then. However, the two dudes that were walking shoulder to shoulder right beside our car when she said it are probably thinking “bitch!” or possibly “How did she know?!”
Anyway, if either of you dudes by any slim chance happen to read this, Lori would like to express her sincere apologies, and hope that you understand that her comment was made in a moment of mental distress after seeing some guy stick some chick’s foot in his mouth.
Random Posts
I was working on the computer… ok, I was surfing the web reading blogs and something caught my fancy. So, knowing Lori was sitting on the couch right behind me, I just starting talking about it. After a couple of minutes of “blather blather blather blather” I paused so she could have some input into my coversation.
nothing.
I turned around and she was sound asleep.
I choose to believe that she was asleep before I started talking. The alternative is too depressing.
Random Posts
It was Friday night, and I had just finished reading Charlie a couple of books before bed. After we were done, he decided he was thirsty. I headed off to the kitchen and poured him a small glass of milk. When I turned around to put the milk away he was digging through the fridge.
“Dad, I’m hungry”
“Charlie, I don’t think we have anything you can eat tonight.”
“Dad, Look at all of these leftovers.” said as he was tearing into the stacks of stryrofoam containers in our fridge.
He spotted something that he thought looked good, and pulled out the leftover chicken chunks container from the Buffalo Wings place.
“Look Dad, Chicken!”
I took them away thinking that they might be too spicy.
“Charlie, I think that might be too spicy.”
Then from the family room Lori yelled, “The chicken shouldn’t be spicy, he can have it.”
Ok, cool. I pulled out a fork and hacked a hunk off.
“Open up Charlie.”
Like a baby bird, his mouth opened wide and I popped the chicken in.
Have you ever seen a four and a half year old try to rip the insides of his mouth out with his fingers while jumping in circles, screaming and crying?
Well, that’s what I got to see. I finally managed to grab him and get him to spit the chicken out. He looked at me with the most hurt and angry look I think I’ve ever seen from him. Still crying he started spitting and yelling “Spicy!” hack gag hack “Spicy!!”
I grabbed his milk and had him take a drink which he immediately gagged on and spit on the floor. Lori came running up to help, and looked at me with a incredibly puzzled look and said “It wasn’t spicy!!”
We finally got him settled down, had him drink some milk and gave him a few potato chips to help kill the heat. That’s when it hit Lori.
“Oh No, that was the chicken that we brought home from the restaurant the other night because they made it too spicy for me to eat. Oh no.”
Yeah, that’s how my wife nearly killed my son.
Random Posts
Lori had a 44 ounce fountain Pepsi sitting on the table tonight. Over the course of the night, as I would get thirsty, I would just grab it and have a few drinks. I probably drank AT LEAST 12 ounces throughout the night.
After we headed to bed, I noticed her pop on the nightstand. As I was talking to her, I grabbed it and had a big drink. She looked at me and said: “I put some stuff in there to help me with constapation.”
Damn, I guess I know where I’m going to be later.
Random Posts
I’ve eaten so many Halls mentholyptus cough drops that I think my spit is going to be a permanent shade of neon blue.
We were diagnosed with Acute Bronchitis. It’s been a coughing phlegm filled party at the Cramer house this week!