Wednesday, October 18, 2006

Dora Rules


Have you ever had one of these days?

This was Baby's expression for about six of the 14 hours we put in today. This particular episode began after I (gasp!) warmed her lunch for her to eat after naptime because she was too tired and cranky to eat it before. Apparently cold macaroni is her favorite.

Lord have mercy. Bedtime could not come fast enough.

After her two hour nap, which failed to leave her refreshed and happy, she began crying and asking for "Dowa", her cute little spanish-speaking friend from Nickelodeon.

"Sorry, honey," I say. "Dora isn't on right now."

So she runs down the list of Dora's friends, thinking surely if Dora isn't on TV, perhaps Boots or Backpack is. And I have to tell her no, they aren't on either.

But my answer is not satisfactory.

She throws herself to the ground, weeping and wailing, refusing to be comforted or distracted.

So what do I do?

We hop in the van, dragging a screaming and kicking snot-nosed Baby with us, and run to the library to get a Dora video.

I scanned the shelves, reading all the Running Times on each Dora video, trying to find the longest one. 48 minutes was all they had.

48 minutes??!!! I need 96. 96 minutes of funny, sunny Dora time.

Alas, it was not to be. But at that point I didn't care. I would've taken 48 seconds and happily played it over and over.

I showed the video case to Baby, who beamed and began pointing to the characters, reaquainting herself with her long, lost friends.

And all was happy again...for 48 minutes.

15 comments:

~cjoy said...

Rewind. Play. Rewind. Play. Rewind. . . .you get the idea.
Then buy one to keep on hand. (If VHS is okay by you, consignment shops often have them cheap!)

Anonymous said...

Yes, that would make me desperate too :) don't they know Dora needs to be on a continuous loop for after nap time?

jjofar said...

it is sad that almost all of our DVR/TiVo space is taken up by 'Magic School Bus' Yea, technology!!!
I am so sad that I missed your bow naming contest...oh, please do another. i love that!!!

Girlie said...

your daughter and my son have the same Dora-holic tendency.

Anonymous said...

It must have been in the air yesterday. We had the SAME kind of day with Tom, minus the Dora fetish. He doesn't know about Dora yet.

Diana said...

that's why I have a bunch of Elmo and Bear videos laying around (got 'em for about 5 bucks at Walmart) just for days like this...

MamaTeeThree said...

Exactly the reason we have an endless supply of DVDs for our kids. Is there a better babysitter than good old Phillips Magnavox? LOL!!

Anonymous said...

You are so very dedicated DH. Or is it desperate?
Anyhoo, it's more than my munchkins would have gotten out of me.
You rock!

Scribbit said...

Luckily my kids don't object to watching the same show over and over. Thank goodness for VCRs

Anonymous said...

That is why we LOVe "On Demand". We don't have TIVO but on demand is a life saver! It comes with our cable.

Anonymous said...

OH MY! You've just described my life with 2 year-old twins. I'm way too old for this.

Anonymous said...

You do what you have to do! LOL! At our house it's a combination of Super Friends and Bob the Builder for my 3 yo.

Domestic Goddess said...

When my kids were little it was Barney. Be grateful!!

Anonymous said...

Tivo is worth it's weight in gold for times like this. It's "steins" in our house. Little Einsteins for non toddler/preschooler mom set.

One big problem we recently had. The TIVO only works on the LR TV (but if we had dish it would work in both. I digress) I had let the twins watch something in the LR when a steins crisis hit. Little one went to the bedroom TV expecting Steins on demand like the LR. No dice and no way to explain it to a 19 month old.

nicole said...

Yes, the DVR is the greatest invention for families in ages. Ours is almsot exclusively used to record children's programming, so that Little Einsteins or what have you is always on. I would highly recommend it to any and all moms.