1 Mother 2 Another

I’m pretty strict on television for
the girls; they get one television show a day, sometime after their
naps, and only if they don’t lose the privilege due to bad
behavior. I’m similarly picky about which shows they watch,
and have a pretty narrow definition of what I consider appropriate.


I should also say here that I didn’t grow up watching
claymation shows the way my husband did, so I was a stranger to the
whole Rudolph/Santa Claus Is Coming To Town line of shows when we
had kids. The Christmas after Maddie turned two, though, I saw them
each over and over as Maddie joyfully picked one out of the lineup
each night for her “bideo”. Last year saw a fond
reunion between Girl and her Claymation Collection, and I knew this
year would be no different. In fact, this year would be even bigger
because Maddie would get to introduce Cora to the wonderful world
of singing reindeer.

Well, things didn’t work out as
planned, and Cora has not joined the ranks of Claymaniacs.
Apparently, the Abominable Snow Monster in Rudolph is really really
scary. I mean, really. Cora watched it two days in a row and was up
with nightmares for almost a week. I finally banned the show and
the nightmares stopped, instantly. And the kicker is, Cora would
say, “No, it’s ok! He’s scary, but he turns nice
at the end.” So she’d try to watch the thing, knowing
it was stressing her out. I can’t figure out if she was
trying to toughen herself up or please her sister.


We found that the Frosty cartoon wasn’t a problem, so,
emboldened, we gave “Santa Claus Is Coming To Town” a
go. I started the DVD and went downstairs to clean up the kitchen.


And ran up fifteen minutes later when Cora started screaming.


I forgot about the stupid Snow Wizard, or whatever the evil
guy’s name is. Give me a break – I never watched them,
remember?


So the claymation series has gone on the “banned” list
for Cora, and she’ll walk around philosophically shrugging
her shoulders in a very French way and say, “No more Rudolph
for Cora. Oh, well.”


And hopefully, no more late nights for Mommy, too.