Mickey Mouse Clubhouse

We spend a LOT of time in our house watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.  Yeah, yeah I've heard you shouldn't let your kid watch tv before age 2, it'll stunt their development, blah, blah, blah.  I've had friends who have seriously limited their childrens' television watching and all I can ask myself is why. 

First off, I am tired in the morning.  Emma wakes up early and it's hard for me to entertain her when I can barely keep my eyes open.  Welcome to the wonderful world of Disney.  We spend our mornings alternating between Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Dinosaur Train, and Sesame Street. 

And lest ye judge me about Emma's development or language skills, my mom and our friends will attest that this child NEVER stops talking.  NEVER.  From the moment her eyes open until she closes them at bedtime and sometimes during her sleep she is all talk, talk, talk, sing, sing, sing.  At almost 20 months she can just about count to 10 on her own, she knows color, she sings her ABCs, she knows most of Twinkle Twinkle.  I have zero worries about her language development. 

As soon as the characters come on the tv Emma greets them all by name.  "Hi Mickey, Hi Gooey, Hi Doald, Hi Minnie."  She can't say grandma, but she knows every character from Mickey, Sesame Street, and all our dogs.

Plus even when the tv is on she isn't sitting mindlessly in front of it.  She is playing with dolls, walking around the living room, hopping, did I mention the singing and talking?  And she is so sweet.  If she notices my eyes are closed she comes over and screams "Mommy" in my face to make sure I'm okay and then she'll cover me with her baby's blanket and put a hat on me.  She also occasionally wants to play catch minus letting me know in advance which mostly results in her throwing things at me.  She hasn't really grasped what's appropriate to throw and what's not and, I'll tell you what, your eyes open pretty fast when you get hit with a remote control car. 

From watching so many episodes (sooo sooo many episodes) of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse I do have some questions.

A) Why are there only 6 different episodes?  I cannot watch these same 6 episodes any more.  Get with the program Disney.  I'm sure your animators are locked in a basement sweat shop basement somewhere, but give 'em an extra piece of bread and glass of water and tell them to get on with it already!

B) Where do Mickey and his friends live?  The clubhouse appears to be in the middle of nowhere.  Why don't they have houses.  I mean Minnie has her bow-tique, but no home? 

C)  Why do they keep hanging out with Pete?  He seems like a bully, always demanding beans or coins from them for things that should be free.  He's like a shyster used car salesman (I was going to make a political comparison, but decided it would not be appropriate so I'll leave it up to your imagination). 

D) Are these characters romantically involved or siblings?  Goofy and Clarabell have gone on some dates, but what about Mickey and Minnie or Daisy and Donald?  And how does Minnie had nieces and Mickey doesn't? 

E)  I truly think Daisy is like the sex pot of the show.  I bet her and Mickey had an affair. 

F) If these yahoos didn't have Toodles they would never be able to accomplish anything.  He is the backbone of their whole operation. 

G) Does anyone else think the handy helpers are odd and a little bit creepy? 

Well, I've pretty much used up my morning energy.  I think it's time to make sure my couch still fits the entire length of my body.  I like to check periodically through out the day to make sure I'm not growing still. 

Tune in next week when I critique Sesame Street.

A Calling

I know that not everyone feels called to adopt.  It's a huge committment and you take on a lot of unknowns.  Children who are available for adoption have, most likely, experienced traumas that we can't even imagine.  However, God has still put that calling into my heart and while we have always planned to adopt when Paul retires from the military I think maybe we'll end up adopting at least one child at our next assignment.  We'll see.  I know God has our children all picked out for us.  I keep telling Paul he needs to stay in a few extra years and retire as a Lt Col because I want a big family and I want to adopt at least 4 kids.  haha

I wanted to take an opportunity to share a young boy's journey and hope for a family.  He needs a very special family.  Maybe someone will read this blog and know in their heart that they are his forever family.  Or maybe someone who reads this blog will share his story with his forever family.  You never know.  God moves in mysterious ways for sure. 

No Greater Joy Mom is one of my favorite adoption blogs.  This family is amazing.  I don't know them and I love them.  She recently blogged about Zack, a young man who desperately wants a forever family and to be reunited with his soul sister who was adopted by an American family. 

I will warn you that his story brought tears to my eyes, but I hope you'll read it and pass it on.  You never know.  You just never know. 

Major Dad

Paul pinned on Major last Friday (I know I've been a blog slacker lately) and even though it was his day Emma was the star of the show.  For those not familiar with the military to say pin on means that he was given the oath by a higher rank officer and then family gets to remove the old rank from his uniform and pin on his new rank.  Emma removed his Captain bars while I pinned on his Major rank. 

There's actually a whole ceremony that goes along with everything and I am sure that no one has participated in one quite like ours.  Our friend Neicey, also an AF Captain, served as the announcer/MC.  Everyone was seated and quiet.  She announced Em and I and we walked in and took our seats.  Then everyone stood while Paul and Colonel Talbot came in.  As they walked by us (keep in mind it's totally quiet), Emma yelled "My daddy."  And that pretty much set the tone for the entire ceremony.

Em is a very active toddler.  Trying to keep her on my lap was like trying to hold on to an eel.  Impossible!  Paul said to go ahead and let her walk around so off she went.  While Col. Talbot was trying to talk about how awesome Paul is, Em was organizing all the dry erase markers and erasers.  Apparently she felt Paul needed to hold all of them. 

Then while Paul was being given the oath by Col Talbot Em went up to check out the American flag.  Thank goodness Neicey was standing there to prevent her from knocking it over.  Her fun with the flag put on the lock down, Em decided to turn her attention to Col Talbot.  Thankfully the Col has a 4 year old so she wasn't as phased as say someone without kids would've been when Em started rubbing her leg (pantyhose are cool).  We all waited with baited breath for Em to reach up and pull her skirt down trying to stand up.  It didn't happen and we all breathed a sigh of relief.  

Needless to say, there was a lot of laughter during the ceremony.  No solemn occasions for the McArtor family.  I think most of the people there were there to see Emma and to see who on earth would put up with Paul on a daily basis (one woman actually said that was why she came). 

No ceremony would be complete without a sundae bar.  Yum yum!

I am so proud of Paul.  Not only is he a great dad, he's also a great Air Force officer!  And I threw in a cute bedtime story picture just to warm your heart on this damp fall day!