A few months ago, Max started to sneak the remote out of its hiding place in an effort to watch his favorite show. He had watched attentively enough to know which button was which and would press the On Demand button for the menu, but we had to put the parental controls on that after he ordered a few different movies (and once, somehow, locked us out of watching NBC!). When you enter the passcode, it's hidden on screen, so Max now hands me the remote and says, clearly, "Press button! Press button!", followed by, "Stars? Stars? Stars? Stars?" - it took a while to figure out what he meant before I realized that the passcode comes up as stars when you enter it.
But he's SO addicted to the show on tv and the apps on my phone that we have to try to regulate his access. And he knows it. Which is where the manipulation comes in.
Knowing we won't give him the phone just to play with his Lazy Town apps, he asks instead to "Call Uncle?" (we have a long history of FaceTime chatting with Uncle), and if for some reason Uncle isn't available, he runs down the list - "Call Daddy?", "Call Boppy?", "Call Gamma?" - but as soon as we connect and the person says hello, he smiles, says, "Good-bye!" and then "Max push button!" to hang up and assume custody of the phone.
Similarly, knowing we won't bring up an episode of LazyTown just because he's been chanting "Sportacus right back?", he will wait a bit and then name some other show he knows we can find On Demand - "Tommy Twain?" "Science Kid?" - but change his tune the minute the On Demand menu flashes on the screen!
While Max is by far the worst afflicted, the show has infected the other two as well. They have Lazy Town dolls that they must take with them everywhere and they use them, or themselves, to act out scenes from the show. In the theme song, they sing, "Stephanie is new in town..." and Caroline will introduce you to her Stephanie doll by saying, "This Stephanie - her new in town!" They goad me into singing the songs from the show as they do their best to mimic the dance moves - one time Daniel and Caroline even almost got the fancy dip at the end of the dance!
The main character, Sportacus, eats only "sports candy" (fruits and vegetables, frequently apples), and his nemesis, Robbie Rotten, has in a number of episodes sent him into "sugar meltdown" by giving him a "sugar apple". The boys whine incessantly for "sports candy apples" (Max) and "sugar apples" (Daniel) and the other night, Daniel played out a full scene where he would run into the room, take a bite from his "sugar apple" and then collapse onto the floor until you gave him a grape and he was revived by the sports candy. This continued for quite some time. This afternoon after nap time, all three of them giggled as they fell over in their cribs yelling, "Sugar Meltdown!" and then lying motionless.
But Max is definitely the ringleader...we're going to have to watch out for that one.
Addendum -
After posting this blog entry, I was reminded of a couple of Caroline moments. Because we so often have to tell Max, "No, no, Max, no Lazy Town right now," there was one time when Uncle was babysitting that Lazy Town came on TV at its regularly appointed time and Caroline turned to Max and berated him, "NO! NO LAZY TOWN!" and it took Uncle five minutes to convince Max it was OK to watch it. After naptime, as if to make up for that incident, the boys were whining to watch the show when Caroline walked in with her baby doll and told Uncle, "Baby wants to watch Lazy Town."
So maybe Max isn't the only manipulative one...
But he's SO addicted to the show on tv and the apps on my phone that we have to try to regulate his access. And he knows it. Which is where the manipulation comes in.
Knowing we won't give him the phone just to play with his Lazy Town apps, he asks instead to "Call Uncle?" (we have a long history of FaceTime chatting with Uncle), and if for some reason Uncle isn't available, he runs down the list - "Call Daddy?", "Call Boppy?", "Call Gamma?" - but as soon as we connect and the person says hello, he smiles, says, "Good-bye!" and then "Max push button!" to hang up and assume custody of the phone.
Similarly, knowing we won't bring up an episode of LazyTown just because he's been chanting "Sportacus right back?", he will wait a bit and then name some other show he knows we can find On Demand - "Tommy Twain?" "Science Kid?" - but change his tune the minute the On Demand menu flashes on the screen!
While Max is by far the worst afflicted, the show has infected the other two as well. They have Lazy Town dolls that they must take with them everywhere and they use them, or themselves, to act out scenes from the show. In the theme song, they sing, "Stephanie is new in town..." and Caroline will introduce you to her Stephanie doll by saying, "This Stephanie - her new in town!" They goad me into singing the songs from the show as they do their best to mimic the dance moves - one time Daniel and Caroline even almost got the fancy dip at the end of the dance!
The main character, Sportacus, eats only "sports candy" (fruits and vegetables, frequently apples), and his nemesis, Robbie Rotten, has in a number of episodes sent him into "sugar meltdown" by giving him a "sugar apple". The boys whine incessantly for "sports candy apples" (Max) and "sugar apples" (Daniel) and the other night, Daniel played out a full scene where he would run into the room, take a bite from his "sugar apple" and then collapse onto the floor until you gave him a grape and he was revived by the sports candy. This continued for quite some time. This afternoon after nap time, all three of them giggled as they fell over in their cribs yelling, "Sugar Meltdown!" and then lying motionless.
But Max is definitely the ringleader...we're going to have to watch out for that one.
Addendum -
After posting this blog entry, I was reminded of a couple of Caroline moments. Because we so often have to tell Max, "No, no, Max, no Lazy Town right now," there was one time when Uncle was babysitting that Lazy Town came on TV at its regularly appointed time and Caroline turned to Max and berated him, "NO! NO LAZY TOWN!" and it took Uncle five minutes to convince Max it was OK to watch it. After naptime, as if to make up for that incident, the boys were whining to watch the show when Caroline walked in with her baby doll and told Uncle, "Baby wants to watch Lazy Town."
So maybe Max isn't the only manipulative one...
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