the mom gig

Blogging The Bachelor

LOVE that Chris Harrison is finally blogging about "The Bachelor" --at last, Mr. "It's time for the final rose of the night" has a chance to dish the dirt.  I tended to leave the always-awkward reunion shows wanting to hear more than the occasional under-the-breath snark from Chris.

Blog on, good sir.

PS--Go, Jillian!  The hot dog shtick wouldn't have been my way to make a first impression, but you're our front-runner so far.

Rob and Amber got booted!

I was crushed to see that my favorite Amazing Race team, Rob and Amber, were eliminated last night.  A team that was so confident and competent, a team that handily won the first three legs of the race, fell apart in the face of adversity.  When Rob, a thirty-something-year-old man, found himself no longer in first place, he pouted and refused to change his game strategy, in turn got sloppy, and his stubbornness cost him the race.  And, I was disappointed to see that Rob and Amber, who historically played the game fairly, resorted to lying to the other teams, most likely out of desperation.

As a parent, I watched this week's episode and saw Rob's meltdown as a perfect example of why it's so important to teach our kids perseverance.  More importantly, we need to model with our own actions and choices that giving up too easily is a waste of an opportunity, and that there's inherent value in living honorably.  I found myself thinking that Boston Rob was "acting like a five-year-old," but I know plenty of five-year-olds who would handle themselves with more integrity and wouldn't give up so quickly. 

I still think The Amazing Race embodies a lot of good life lessons, and the idea of racing around the world with a close friend or relative is definitely inspiring.  I'm just bummed that the team that I thought was a shoo-in to win, by virtue of their honorable and intelligent gameplay, disappointed me so.

Then again, I may have taken this a bit too personally--sleep deprivation with a 6-week-old is beginning to take its toll.

The Wonder Pets!

G's current obsession is the pre-nap rock block of Backyardigans and The Wonder Pets on Noggin--not the most educational shows in terms of teaching reading or math, but fantastic for exposing little ones to different genres of music.

More on the Backyardigans in a future post--as a preview, I'd love for someone to tell me just what kind of animal Uniqua is...In any case, here's my friend Leah's assessment of The Wonder Pets:

Three class pets (A hamster, duckling, and turtle) go on adventures after the kids go home for the evening to rescue various animals in trouble around the world (wearing capes and all). Strange enough, right? Well, the whole thing is a MUSICAL... The odd thing is that because it is a musical, they are constantly narrating what they are doing, so (my daughter) can now give these pretty complex summaries of the action ("Mommy! The swan feels sad and the Wonder Pets help her feel all better so she can swim!") all to (the music of) Swan Lake.

Every episode is like a little opera sung to a different style of music, and the songs are so catchy that my husband and I often find ourselves holding entire conversations in Wonder Pets recitative—"oh no, this is serious.  We're behind on the laundry!  This is serious!!" When our newborn's crying at 3am, we'll even bust out "what's gonna work? Teeeeeeemwork!"  I guess you have to see it to get what I'm talking about.     

Why The Amazing Race is educational TV

I know I'm biased here because The Amazing Race is my favorite hour of television besides Lost, but seriously, this is one of the best family programs on TV today. 

Here's a competition where teams who already share a close relationship (parents and children, best friends, couples, siblings, etc.) have to work together to race around the world for a million dollars. In contrast to a lot of other reality shows that depend on badmouthing or seriously screwing over the competition to win, The Amazing Race teaches the benefits of teamwork, competent problem-solving skills, and respect for other cultures. The race also clearly shows that every choice has definite consequences that can help or hurt the competitors, and there's no clear advantage from being mean and nasty.  In fact, on the rare occasion that contestants are jerks to their teammates, to the other teams, or to the locals, the race is more or less designed to show that what goes around, comes around.  And, the prize tends to take a back-seat to the sheer thrill of competing, as evidenced by this current season, where Amazing Race all-stars are vying more for bragging rights than the money.

My whole family loves this show, and in particular, my husband and I love to argue about what we would do as competitors--would we be able to outsmart the other teams to get ahead?  Would we be able to pick the correct flight or task to get us to the pitstop ahead of everyone else?  More importantly, would we make good TV as the lovable, butt-kicking-yet-constantly-bickering-parents-from-the-OC?  Unfortunately, with two small children, we won't be applying for the race anytime soon, so we'll just have to watch and live vicariously through our favorite competitors.  Rob and Amber have nothing to worry about...yet. 

Grease--do we care?

I do love reality television, and I eagerly look forward to Sunday nights for my weekly dose of The Amazing Race and The Apprentice--more on why I love these shows in a future post.

However, I can't understand this Grease: You're the One That I Want show.  Grease is definitely one of my favorite movies, and Olivia Newton-John remains one of my heroes, especially given her totally under-rated performance as a roller-skating, ELO-harmonizing, daughter of Zeus in Xanadu, my all-time favorite not-guilty pleasure.  But I digress.  Why would I, a resident of Southern California, vote for any of these folks, when I don't have any plans to travel to New York to see them on Broadway?  Who cares about who is the perfect Danny or Sandy, when it's clear all these folks are desperately trying to mimic John and Olivia's definitive performances?  And are we ever gonna see these contestants again after this relentlessly long audition process is over?  At least the American Idols get so much exposure that after the season's over, you can buy your favorites' records or, if you're really hooked, see them live on their annual tour.  Oh, and the Idols have way more talent--especially that Lakisha and Melinda.  Those ladies got pipes...mad pipes.

More importantly, though, where the heck is my favorite music reality show, Rockstar?  I am so bummed that it's only a summer series, because there we get to see real professional musicians who are trying for their big breaks, even if if means playing with an irrelevant INXS or a middle-aged SuperNova.  You don't have to wait through weeks of bad auditions--all the contestants have been pre-screened.  And, that house band is unbelievable-they're the real rockstars...

Okay, enough rambling.  My husband's done with his work for the night, he's brought me some milk and Oreos, my daughters are both asleep, and we're gonna settle in for some TiVoed Amazing Race.  Rock on, Rob and Amber.

Curious George on PBS

My 22-month-old daughter has recently discovered the Curious George show on PBS.  What a welcome change from endless requests for The Little Mermaid in our house!  G loves George's silliness and penchant for donuts, and she's always talking about the Man in the Yellow Hat, aka "friend George yellow hat". 

I was never much of a fan of the Curious George books--in fact, I was always annoyed that George just misbehaved with reckless abandon and no consequences.  Clearly George is supposed to be a character little kids can relate to, but unfortunately the books seemed to equate "curious" with "disobedient."

Thankfully, this new incarnation of George isn't merely the embodiment of the toddler id, all impulse and no forethought.  This George is genuinely curious and actually applies the math and science concepts he learns to solve the problems he causes with his mischief.  He's just as cute as the George from the books, and what's more, the wry, tongue-in-cheek narration provided by William H. Macy makes the cartoons definitely parent-friendly.  Hooray for a cartoon that's appealing to different age groups on different levels!

Speaking of Curious George cartoons, G and I weren't all that impressed by the recent feature film.  In fact, G was more than a little freaked out by the doorman in the Man in the Yellow Hat's building.  We do love the soundtrack by Jack Johnson, especially the eco-friendly version of "3 is the Magic Number," but the television show has a much higher educational value than the film.

George is now a staple on our TiVo, and now G's reading the original books by Margret and H.A. Rey on her own.  In fact, she sleeps with her George book like she used to sleep with her stuffed lamb, all cuddled up under the blanket withe the paperback. I'm still not thrilled with the Reys' George, but who am I to stop a kid who wants to sleep with her books?