Tuesday, February 19, 2008

It's all in the time

I love Barbie Fairytopia.

All of 'em, actually. Fairytopia, Mermaidia, Magic of the Rainbow. If Elina's in it, I love it.

Why, you ask? The animation? The engaging characters? The fully realized alternate worlds? The commercial tie-ins?

No, my friend. The time.

Child does not normally watch much TV. A half-hour in the morning while we eat breakfast together, and a 15-minute show in the evening while we have snack (hoo-ray PBS Sprout!). But every once in a while, we rent her a movie too. It seems only fair, with the piles we rent for ourselves. And in spite of my Barbie-reluctance, a few weeks ago we rented Fairytopia. Oh, man. She wanted to watch it about 4 times before we returned it. She was in princess/fairy/mermaid heaven. So the next time we were at the store, and she pleaded desperately to watch the next in the series, and it was only available for purchase...yep, we bought it. And then the next one. And she has no objection at all to me "watching" it with her with the laptop on my lap.

Which is why over the past week, when I was home with her for 5 of 7 days--usually a complete loss, writing-wise--I still managed to get 3000 new words. I did not feel guilty for the extra TV-time because most of it counted as sick days, she was thrilled to pieces, and Ghost Girl continues to grow.

I love you, Elina. I almost love you, Mattel. Not quite. But I'm thinking about it.

5 comments:

  1. Oh dear, it sounds like Child has had a rough go.

    I'm like you, I limit TV to a show a day, a bit more while they're sick--poor little poopers.

    Little M finally goes back to school tomorrow after 2 weeks home with chicken pox (bad case!). Only problem is, she lasts about 15 minutes in front of the TV, so it's been a rough go. I was so looking forward to my first writing day tomorrow, esp since my non-fic MS is due in 5 days.

    Except...

    Little C came home from school today with, you guessed it...chicken pox.

    Sigh.

    I foresee some Hannah Montana in the not too distant future.

    Hope Child is feeling better!

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  2. Helene:

    Oh NO! Not more chicken pox!

    Child hasn't had it bad at all, actually. Mostly just mild pink eye, which was nothin'. She got lots of Mommy time. {g}

    You have my extreme sympathies, though. Hope you get some writing time in!!

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  3. I had one child home with pneumonia last week, and the one who's usually home anyway had a bad cold, and, yes, TV can be a lifesaver during such times (or even on well days when Mama needs a little writing time). I'd feel guilty if my kids acted like unimaginative, non-reading zombies, but that's not the case. The oldest one is now a Harry Potter fan who's convinced she's a wizard.

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  4. Cathy:

    Yup. I don't feel guilty at all either. She's way more into reading than TV.

    Sorry about the pneumonia and the cold!!! Hope they're all better now.

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  5. Yep, the kids are better now, except for some lingering cold symptoms in the youngest--and the germs finally spread to me. The oldest seems to be prone to pneumonia now that we're in Oregon, however, which is something we'll have to watch out for every time she gets a cold. :-( Hope you're done with the Pink Eye!

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