Creature Two goes daily to a place I would certainly consider more of a daycare then a school. We chose it because of the flexible hours, fairly pristine facility, and a glowing reputation. It’s been a couple of months already and everyone seems happy. One of the best parts of it all is watching her come out of her shell a bit and begin to connect with other kids.

According to a new study kids watch almost two and a half hours of television in daycare. Adding that to the amount of time most kids watch television at home, it adds up to quite a bit of catatonic non-involvement. Fortunately, as far as I can tell, the only screens in  I’ve noticed in my daughter’s daycare, are in the main office. They’re closed circuit monitors of each room so that parents can see how their kids are doing without disturbing them. 

If I wanted my kids to watch that much television, I’d just keep them at home in front of the boob tube. It would be cheaper.

As a kid I always wanted an ant farm. It was all about bringing nature inside so it could be viewed nose-up-to-glass. Of course there was no way my mother was going to allow me to keep creepy crawlies as pets. One errant elbow and we would have a serious infestation problem. Since being a father is about living vicariously, I’m debating whether I should get one for the Creatures. Creature One will love it it. His fascination with science is growing everyday and without a doubt he’ll be transfixed. It’s the other one I’d be worried about. At three she might think it’s cute to shake them up.  Or set them free. This is probably the finest looking ant farm I’ve ever seen.

I was happily surprised to see Yo Gabba Gabba had a float in yesterday’s Macy’s parade. Despite the kids liking it, I’m not a big fan of the show, it grates on me, but there was little else to hold there interest in the three hour wait to glimpse Santa. The big ballons were fun, but there weren’t enough of them. They were bored by all the marching bands, and most of the vocal performances were by people I had never heard of. And I doubt I will hear of them again.
It seems a real waste that the guy in red only shows up in the last two minutes.

So it’s the time of year when the Lovely Wife hands me a list of names that we need to get gifts for. Because it’s the holidays, you understand. We all need to be grateful. I was expecting to see seven or eight names. Ten at the most. I almost lost it when I saw fifteen. I understand giving a gift card to the Creature’s primary teachers, but is it necessary to give to the newly hired music teacher who has a once a week group session at my daughter’s daycare? It’s not that I mind tipping. I can only think of one time I withheld a gratuity in a restaurant (due to especially horrible service). I understand wait-staff are paid low wages and the fifteen to twenty percent extra goes to paying their rent so they can continue to go on auditions. Its just that it feels like we’re supposed to throw money at anyone we come into contact with. Truly ridiculous. 

Basically I’m going to do my damndest to shrink the list down to ten.

Creature One is really into watching  Toy Story (10th Anniversary Edition). It’s his go-to entertainment, which since it’s such a good movie, I don’t mind so much. There are much worse films to watch over and over again. Like the sequel. So when I heard Pixar was working on Toy Story 3, I tried not to get my hopes up, but from this new trailer it doesn’t look bad. Andy’s all grown up and the toys find themselves in a daycare, and they don’t seem too happy with their new drooling masters. In fact, it looks like they’re trying to escape. Of all the movie studios out there Pixar is the least likely to disappoint.

Creature Two had a thing for rubber duckies and who can blame her? They’re damn cute. They’re kitsch. They squeak with uncontrollable abandon when handled by a toddler. But sometimes a plain old duck is just boring. Let’s all be thankful that there are ducky designers out there that think the same.  In fact, where do I sign up to be a ducky designer?

Did you ever want to bring your Star Wars play to life? Do you want to build something for the wee-ones, which has the benefit of keeping some cash in your pocket and out of the hands of Lucasfilm? This is you project then.

Creature Two is being inexplicable drawn toward the world of Disney Princess despite our best intentions. She claims that Cinderella is her favorite Princess even though she’s never seen the movie. I suppose she’s picking some of it up at school, but I’m worried Disney has put something in the water. If anyone’s got the resources to contaminate every reservoir in the country with a magic elixir it would be the mouse.

This is an amazing set. I’m not sure who it’s really marketed towards, kids with an amazing level of concentration, or adults with too much time on their hands. This has to take hours and hours to complete not to mention a certain level of  focus that I don’t think most humans can obtain without help from  a few pills.  Getting this done though has to a real sense of accomplishment. And relief.

…but I’m not.