February 28, 2012

Lannis: Introducing Obsessions

There’re a lot of things you anticipate when you’re becoming a parent, or are a new parent. Some of them good (smiles, giggles, firsts in general), and a lot of them make you pull your hair out (the constant testing, the sleepless nights, cleaning puke stains for the fortieth time, the need to explain why hand washing is essential even though you can’t see anything on your hands,) GAH!).

One thing I never anticipated — and I’m not sure why I never did — was the ability to introduce all the things I love to my kids.

Toys, games, movies, books. You name it.

Yep. We’ve unleashed the addictions, obsessions, insanity... meh, pick one of the previous. They all work, really.

Yep. The boys love Lego. They pour over Where’s Waldo books and giggle to themselves about the silly scenes. Mr Lannis has subjected introduced them to Goonies and the classic Batman — yes, the one with Adam West in tights.

They’re boys. Their adoration of super heroes is practically inherent in the Y chromosome.

And I’ll admit I bought Batman: The Animated Series DVDs, even though they’re for a slightly older audience, because I was that girl in high school, the one who still watched cartoons and who especially loved the revamped version of the Dark Knight...

As cheesy as it sounds, there’s nothing like watching a movie I haven’t seen in years and be able to see their eyes light up with the spark of excitement and wonder.

What has struck their fancies now? ReBoot.


Yes. ReBoot. I fell in love with the series in my teens, and we now own the entire (original) series on DVD. All four seasons. Approximately 19 hours, according to the case.

Admittedly, I’ll watch it over and over again, too. Or at least for now — I just haven’t reached my saturation point (yet).

But you know they’re watching a lot of it (a couple episodes daily) when the four- and six-year-old can request what episode they want to see, sometimes by name, and sometimes by describing content... this sounds a lot like “I want to see the one with battle carrots.”

Yes, this is actually in an episode, and I know the series well enough to know which episode they’re requesting, too... because of this I was pretty sure I was farther gone on the terminal-ReBoot-fan scale...

Until the four-and-a-half-year-old, who barely reads and is NotAllowedToTouchDVDs requests a specific episode, and as I’m putting the DVD in the player, idly asks, “Is that the one with AndrAIa on it?”

Erm. No. AndrAIa isn’t pictured on the disc in my hand. I pull up the episode selection menu and... uh... what he’s asking for isn’t on this disc. I flip through the DVD book, find the next disc in that season, and —

Yeah. You guessed it. AndrAIa is pictured.

HE’S MEMORIZED WHAT EPISODES ARE ON WHICH DVD!

I... I don’t know what to say...

I CAN’T WAIT FOR THEM TO BE OLD ENOUGH FOR THE WHEEL OF TIME!


 Occasional poster at The Mrs, I'm Lannis - or Leslie, depending on which circles you're swimming. A while ago I decided that I don't care anymore, hence my general standards for life are lower than The Mrs' (but she still loves me.) [Editor: I do]

I live in a small town with my favourite people: my husband, Mr Lannis, and our two boys, along with two cats and one hamster. If you follow me on Twitter, you might witness my issues with linear thought, road rage, spending more money on food than books, and potty mouth. Be warned.




This time last year: Food Anti-Coma