The Boob Tube

No, not another breastfeeding entry. This time I'm talking about the television. Tai freakin' loves the TV. It must be pre-programmed in at birth, because we never plonk him down in front of the TV and we've never even shown him any of those Baby Einstein videos or anything. But somehow he just knows that TV is a source of mind-numbing entertainment. Anytime I walk into a room with him and the TV is on, he immediately starts "watching" it. It doesn't matter what's on either...C-SPAN, cartoons, or that Poltergeist Fuzz. It's all the same to him. He does some really amazing acrobatics that involve alot of neck-craning in order to get a glimpse of the tube (incidentally, it's an excellent way to catch sight of that elusive neck).

We do not anticipate being one of those families that never lets their child watch TV -- we will indeed one day pacify him with Dora or Peep or The Wiggles. But at this point, Tai is not allowed to watch TV. Anytime he's in the room, the TV gets turned off. Our TVs actually pretty much stay off until after he's in bed for the night.

Somehow I didn't really think about my son's love of the television when I decided to take him to a movie last week. The Amherst Cinema has just started offering baby-friendly matinees once a week. So a bunch of my mommy friends and I went to see The Namesake (very good by the way, I recommend it).

As some of you may recall, I actually took Tai to the movies once before. But he was only about 6 weeks old at that point, so his movie-going experience consisted of sleeping, nursing, a little more sleeping, and then nursing some more.


But this time he wanted to watch the movie! After watching him nearly broke his neck trying to see the screen, which was direclty behind him, I gave in and turned him around 180 degrees. He sat contentedly on my lap and stared up at that big screen (the world's largest television, he must have been thinking) for about 45 solid minutes. Then it was time to nurse and go to sleep, just like old times. Yes, it briefly occurred to me that I should not "let" him watch the movie....but that proved downright impossible. And, letting him watch the movie kept him so damn quiet and happy that I couldn't resist (now I see why some parents sit their kids in front of the tube all afternoon).*

Incidentally, not everyone in the theater had a baby with them. Because they just started having these baby matinees, the general public was unaware that this particular showing of The Namesake would be interrupted by crying, delightful squealing, audible pooping, and the slurping-smacking sounds of nursing. Unfortunately, my friend actually ended up leaving 15 minutes into the movie because her baby was crying and the old couple (who else goes to the movies in the middle of a Tuesday afternoon but retirees?) seated in front of her gave her dirty looks.

What's most ridiculous about the Dirty Look Givers is that they ended up being some of the loudest people in the theater. Mr. Giver must have been hard of hearing because Mrs. Giver kept having the explain to him what was going on on screen.




* In fact, a friend of ours has already discovered this secret weapon. When baby sitting yesterday, she dosed him with Cartoon Network to calm down a fussy spell. Really, she just did it because she's trying to secure her spot as Favorite "Auntie".