Pete Pages: "Wiggly" thoughts

Friday, January 9, 2009

"Wiggly" thoughts

I know, I know that some of you moms out there probably never let your kids watch TV and maybe you don't even own a TV. If that is the case, you can just skip over this random entry. I would guess that there are plenty of moms (like me) out there that limit TV watching and only allow certain shows to be watched by your children. Thankfully, my kids are actually still at that honest stage where they will turn off the TV on their own after the show is over or yell, "Mom, it's a show that we can't watch..." I've found that they seem to go through stages of what they like to watch and will really like a certain show for a month or so and then move on to something else. These favorites are always evident to me by what they request and by the the fact that Burke has figured out how to record his favorites on the DVR and so I will suddenly find that have 30 "Cyberchase" episodes recorded (for example). I'm guessing that Burke is also responsible for the time I had about 15 hours of the "Shop Latino Network" channel recorded...

Well, in getting to my point (finally), Hewitt and I turned on the "Wiggles" this morning (which we haven't seen in months) to discover that "Greg Wiggle" (the yellow Wiggle) has indeed been replaced by "Sam Wiggle." If you are familiar with the Wiggles at all you will probably understand that Greg was the lead singer and that Sam used to be known as "Professor Sing-A lotta-Songa." I had heard months ago that this change was going to happen due to Greg's health problems, but just felt sad watching the Wiggles without him! Just for the record, Anthony (blue) is my favorite, but Greg was a close second. Burke and I first discovered the "Wiggles" when Burke was two and we were living in Tennessee for the summer. Their songs are catchy and clever and I especially like their movies (more than the TV episodes) and the dancing. Here are the old Wiggles (cheesy, yet so endearing):

And here are they are now:

Now, I guess I'm a sucker for children's shows with dancing and am serious when I say that my "dream job" (other than my current job of S.A.H.M.) would to be a Wiggly Dancer! For those of you not familiar there are actual dancers on the show that are called that. What a blast. That, or I would love to be one of the "Backyardigans" (love the music and the choreography. Of course, they are animated so that would be difficult...)

My kids and I haven't watched a lot of Barney, but I'm sure I would have loved to be one of the kids on Barney when I was a girl (even though my personality was way too reserved to be able to ham it up like most of the kids on the show seem to do, and the fact that I would have been too old). I'm fairly certain that you all can picture "Barney" and that I do not need to post a photo.

Getting back to the Wiggles, I also noticed on the show today that "Wags the Dog" can now suddenly talk (as opposed to just barking and having those mad dancing skilz). This reminds me of turning on "Sesame Street" as an adult to discover that Mr. Snuffalufagus could now be seen by everyone and not just Big Bird! For some reason, that kind of ruined the fun and bothered me. Anyone else relate?

5 comments:

Heather Ashby said...: I turned on the Wiggles the other day and was surprised at how old they look. There is a lot of gray on some of those guys.; January 11, 2009 at 8:17 AM
Sara and Company said...: I have yet to see a Wiggles anything....guess we should check them out at the Library. The beauty of not having cable is that pretty much my kids get PBS and I'm ok with that. Honestly, I enjoy watching most of the shows as well. There's a lot of great ones now and I love that they make learning fun. Have no recollection of Mr. Snuffalufagus ever not being visible.....what do you know?; January 12, 2009 at 12:19 AM
Anonymous said...: LOVE the backyardagans, but we don't watch it often. One of my favorites. My kids LOVE the "MSB" (The Magic School Bus). I TOTALLY relate to the Sesame Street thing. It ruined the fun and bothered me, too, but why? You said "for some reason." For me, the reason is: when everyone could see "snuffy" on Sesame Street it seemed to ruin the whole purpose of my first grade year when I had a leprechaun named Crystal. Snuffy was big-bird's imaginary (but real) friend and it gave me permission to have one of my own.; January 15, 2009 at 11:23 AM
Tamsen said...: So interesting Shelley! I loved hearing about Crystal. I'm not sure why the change on S.S. bothered me...I don't remember having one imaginary friend per se, but my dolls (and my one "baby" doll in particular)were SO real to me. Maybe my problem is just with change in general...why fix it if it aint broke?; January 15, 2009 at 12:42 PM
Chels said...: I love your posts so much, seriously. And I love the Backyardigans. I know, I know, I don't have kids, but Saturday mornings at the gym have been made so much better simpley with my discovery of Backyardigans. I love their little voices, the songs are brilliant, and I love their dance moves as well...and I think you would've been great on Barney if you had the chance...and I am also going to watch the Wiggles sometime just so I can see what the Wiggly Dancers are all about...; January 16, 2009 at 1:27 PM

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Pete said...

Hewitt was just telling me about a new game he created where you can't touch the ball with your hands or feet. He said, "You can only hit the ball with your leg or foot-wrist." And so I clarified, "You mean your ankle?"
(10/8/09)

Me to Hewitt: Whatcha doin?
Hewitt: Arting. It's making art.
(10/2/09; Hewitt's 5th b-day)

Two jokes by Burke:
What does a storm wear?
Thunderwear!

What do you call King Kong's feet?
Big Foot!
(9/26/09)

I had the following conversation with Tosh:
Me: Are you a boy or a girl?
T: Boy
Me: Is Livvy a boy or a girl?
T: Baby
Me: Yes, but is Baby Liv a boy or a girl?
T: Girl
Me: Is Daddy a boy or a girl?
T: Big boy
Me: Is Mommy a boy or a girl?
T: Mommy a babe!
(Not prompted, I promise! 9/3/09)

Hewitt had set up a bunch of toy figures and Tosh was trying to play with them... Hewitt was telling Tosh not to touch them and I asked him to share the toys or to go and get some more figures for Tosh to play with. Hewitt said, "These are not toys! They are art!" (9/3/09)

We were driving along a road near our house (a rather quiet highway, really) and Hewitt suddenly exclaimed, "Mom! I just found the road to our old house! Keep driving straight!" I looked up and realized there were some big mountains in the FAR distance. Hewitt clearly thought he was staring at Utah. (8/28/09)

Hewitt brought home a little "Groundhog's Day" craft that he had made at preschool and kept calling the groundhog a bear. When I tried to tell him it was really a groundhog he looked at me like I was very silly and said, "It's a BEAR Mom, not a CORNDOG!" (2/2/09)

I explained to Burke about the recent airplane crash into the Hudson River and knowing that he would be very concerned, I quickly told him that all of the passengers were just fine. He looked at me with a worried look and said, "What about the birds? Are they okay?" (1/15/09)

I have a trunk full of old performing costumes from when I was a kid. Hewitt saw the trunk in the basement and told Rob that he wanted to open up the "treasure chest." Rob asked him if he knew what was in the trunk/chest and Hewitt replied that it was full of clothes. When Rob told Hewitt that he didn't want him to make a big mess Hewitt said, "I won't make a mess, I will just get out one clo." I guess that "clo" would be the singular form of clothes... (1/13/09)

Burke is always mentioning how he wants us to have lots more babies because he wants "hundreds" of brothers and sisters. I was explaining to him this morning about how it gets harder and more dangerous to have babies as a woman gets older...he looked at me and said, "Well, you look young Mom, like 19!" Then he leaned in closer and said, "Well, I do see some indents in your skin around your eyes (those would be wrinkles--thanks for noticing)." (12/26/08)

Hewitt blew his nose and must have accidentally gotten some snot or tissue in his mouth because he said, "Yuck! That tastes like cow dung!" (12/24/08)

Tosh got to Hewitt's cup of water at the table today and dumped it all over Hewitt's lap and onto the floor. Rob asked Hewitt, "Are you a little wet?" and he said, "I'm a BIG wet!" (12/24/08)

Rob was playing "Memory" with the boys and when Burke got a few matches in a row Hewitt said, "Wow Burkie, you're on fire!" (11/08)

We just bought some sod for our park strip and while Burke and I were looking at the pallet, I mentioned that some of the pieces looked like crabgrass and that we needed to find the best pieces of grass to buy. Burke looked at the sod for a little while and said, "None of it looks like crap grass to me!"

While I was flossing Burke's teeth he said, "Wait--I need to tell you something." I paused flossing and he said, "You sure know how to be a good mom!" (now there's a treasured compliment!)

Hewitt watched Rob kill a fly in our kitchen and then asked, "Did he cry? Did he want his mommy fly?"

I told Hewitt that I was going to get Tosh a snack and asked if he would like one. He paused and then said, "I'll take a milkshake." What am I, a drive-up window?

Hewitt was asking for toast today and when I pulled out the bread he said, "No, the 'letter O' toast!" I finally figured out that he wanted a toasted english muffin.

Burke came down for breakfast and said, "Mom, it might not look like my bed is made and you might not like it, but it's really stripes that I did as a design on my bed."

Hewitt has really liked eating plain tortillas lately. When I asked him if he wanted one he said, "Oh. Sure. I'll have a mamma mia."

Hewitt understands things very literally. When Rob told him that he "needed to fly" this morning (go to work), Hewitt asked, "Where is the fly? In the house?" When Rob asked him if he had a runny nose he said, "No. It's just boogers."

When Rob was leaving for work he hugged the boys and told them to "be good for Mommy and do exactly what she says." Burke said, "OK bye Dad, you be good at work and do exactly what your boss says."

We were discussing prophets in the scriptures for Family Home Evening and when Rob asked Burke which prophet(s) wrote the Book of Mormon Burke said, "Nephi, Jacob, Enos..." and continued to name the books in order. Rob and I were pretty surprised and couldn't help laughing.

I was just eavesdropping on Hewitt while he was playing with his toys and heard him say, "Ladies and jumpingmen..."

Burke was heading off to a neighbor's house to play and stuck his head back in the door and called, "I'll be traveling by bike."

When the garage door opens for us to drive in, Hewitt will pretend to be scared and say, "Oh no, it's the garage mouth! He's going to eat us!"

Hewitt got distracted and starting playing with his toys during lunch and when I reminded him to please keep eating he said, "But Mommy, I'm working."

Pete Pages

Friday, January 9, 2009

"Wiggly" thoughts

5 comments:

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