Now that we have survived the most recent voyage to the library, I can continue with my male perspective on the NOTV 2011 experience. First however, and not to obsess about the whole library thing, but seriously going there is so much work. Therefore, I just have to share a little more of today's library story in order to provide you with an appreciation for the delay in this post. I know "going to the library" sounds like such a splendid and nice thing to do with your children. It is educational and socially beneficial to take children to a library. Any baffoon could deduce as much. It is fun and joyous and so good for everyone. It really sounds simple not unlike a walk in the park. But it is actually more like a walk in the zoo with all of the animals uncaged and fighting with one another over books and toys while various "quiet things" are trying to be performed in the zoo's lovely gift shop. Oh yeah and as an added bonus, at the library there are always several parents running about their faces strickened with different levels of panic over their respective lost children. This panic is not unlike the panic that would be felt by parents in the zoo comparison I described. I am always the mom with the largest level of concern on my face because I not only take three kids to the library, but I try to be productive and work on the blog while I am there since we don't have internet access at home. Yes I am "that mom", the one that everyone else looks at and says, "seriously, doesn't she watch her kids at all?" Yeah going to the library is more like that for me. And that is just the actual time spent at the library so much more goes into actually getting there.
To get to the library I have to drive five miles. That is it. And it is a straight shot. I actually live on the same road as the libary just five miles east of it. Again it sounds pretty easy, doesn't it?. Getting to the libary should be no problem. However, before I can drive anywhere we have to actually be inside our car. That makes things infinitely more complex and challenging because two of my three children can not get to the garage and into the car on their own. The third is easily distracted so while she is fully capable of such tasks, she rarely makes it to the car without a cattle prod being involved. So on a good day it takes us between ten and twenty minutes to get our various belongings and ourselves safely loaded into the van. By the time we are loaded into the van, inevitably someone has to go potty, or better yet has already gone potty. This of course, forces me to return to the house to change the individual. Or again, if I get really lucky, to allow them to use the potty. By some chance miracle, we survived all of this today and made it to the library! Even better, a second miracle took hold and we managed to make it inside the library. That is when and where I was for the last post when I was so rudely interrupted by Hazel's most recent table dancing.
So now thankfully we survived the library, the kids are sleeping and I am able to pay some attention to this little matter of male perspective on the NOTV gig. Here's what I have been able to discern (so far) from Jeff's persective on the NOTV2011 deal. He likes that we have sex more. He loves that the sheets are being changed regularly. And he genuinely enjoys most of the fun evening activities I have created for us. He actively participates in them without complaint and he occasionally smiles too (although he tries to hide it if he knows I am watching)! He loathes having to try to be creative or think of things to do on his own. And he doesn't like admitting that any of this is cool or enjoyable to him. He likes to complain about no TV, but honestly I think he merely does this so that outwardly it appears that he doesn't think it is cool. And really he does think it is really cool. You know how teenagers get when they are being dropped off at a sleepover or the movies and they treat mom like she is SO LAME, but really they still know she is the best person in the whole entire world. Yeah kind of like that. So Jeff continues to act as if the NOTV thing is really awful, unbearable even. But truthfully, I think he is enjoying the benefits of it just as much as the rest of us.
Our kids now gauge how good a day is by the evening activities that are to be held. Kara, our four year old, routinely checks to see what day of the week it is. She has memorized the entire week's schedule. Manic Monday, Taco Tickle Tuesday and the various other evening line-up events I have created. She prefers Wednesday's (The Wacky Wild Wednesday Work-out is hard to complete with just ask Kim or Grandma and Grandpa who have been witness to the special occasion). Yes Wednesdays are her favorites. A close second is Fart Fest Friday's, but this event can only complete with Wednesday's festivities, if we get to have pop to drink at Fart Fest and beans to eat otherwise the work-out wins every time!
So I conclude my male version of opinion (which yes as fate would have it is being written by a woman) with a few quotes from our first six weeks of television free 2011. These have all been provided compliments of Jeff.
"It isn't as bad as I thought it would be"
"I just get bored and don't know what to do" (imagine what will happen when he retires!)
"I agree that it makes us spend more quality time together as a family"
V Out
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