Friday, July 22, 2011

No TV or internet; Day 1.....

Well, we survived.  For the most part.  I'm a bit dismayed at how little stitching I was able to do today.  Apparently, when my children aren't sprawled in front of a television, they become aware of a need to be otherwise entertained.... by me. 

Not long after Steve left for work our demonspa - *cough*  our children scattered and settled into their usual places. It would seem that they weren't terribly convinced that I actually MEANT what I'd said about no computers or TV.  So I had an economy sized conniption fit. 

What? The monitors were all turned off, which was the desired result.

Sarah promptly flopped onto the couch and stared at a blank screen for nearly an hour before she gave up on me taking pity on her and started suggesting activities like amusement parks, zoos, playing sports in 100+° temperatures, or going to movie theaters.  I suggested she go downstairs to her room and read one of the dozens upon dozens of books she's collected or use some of the myriad of art supplies she owns.  She immediately went into a classic teenage sulk and waited for me to give in.

"Alright then.  Grab a box out of the storage room and go pack up your bedroom."  "Say WHAT?!?" "Well, if nothing in there is of any interest to you any longer, there's no point in having it taking up space.  Let's get rid of it."

It's downright amazing how fast she got inspiration for drawing again.

Now while this was going on, Heather and Hunter were downstairs sprawled on the floor in what could only be a toddler's idea of dying of boredom.  I pretended to ignore them, so they both rolled over and their sighing and huffing got louder, if a bit labored since they were now on their stomachs.  At some point, Hunter noticed a small bit of pillow or cushion stuffing on the floor.  (Don't ask. Around here, most furniture is leaking innards.)  I got curious when the sighing and huffing sounds evolved into deep breaths and whooooooshing.  What I saw was both my children turning various shades of red and purple as they moved across the floor, still on their bellies, blowing that fluff as hard as they could across the carpet.

What does one say at this point?  I just went back to baking cookies and told myself this is normal child behavior.

Not long afterward, the smell of fresh chocolate chip cookies began to waft through the house and Heather attached herself to my hip wanting to help.  Loosely translated: "I'll help make sure they taste good!"  It was a few more minutes before it dawned on me that Hunter wasn't with her.  About this time, Sarah pops into the room and comments about the "colliseum" on the couch.

...the what?  ...where?

I tentatively peeked around the corner and about cried.  Every shoe in the house was stacked up in a corner of the couch.  Mud, dirt, dust, grass, insect carcasses, and all.  Hunter was very proud of his admittedly impressive feat of balancing.  The pile of shoes was taller than he is.  I told him to put it all back and he immediately moved to obey... by grabbing a shoe out of the bottom of the stack.  It took a few seconds to find my son again.

Not even lunchtime yet....

It's gonna be a long week.  *twitch*

2 comments:

  1. Sounds like its going to be a fun week. I said to Michael that you were doing this and he was like"whaaaa" lol.

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  2. This is a interesting experiment! My sister banned her 7 year old twins from TV for a week (for various reasons). After the week was over, one of them asked if they could have a "no TV week" again! Huh. Kind of amazing.

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