October 6, 2011

TV as a Babysitter

Today I woke up to rain tapping against our bedroom window. As I snuggled up under the covers I was ever so rudely interrupted by Sir Sunderland’s daily wake up call.

You see, I started waking up an hour earlier in the morning to squeak in a baby-free pump. This is after months of trying to figure out how to entertain the baby for a half an hour in the morning while she demands attention.

I thought I had it all figured out. She will watch TV (gasp!). Allow me to explain the horror of this decision. We decided that we’d prefer she didn’t watch TV for as long as possible. This was decided after we put on Yo Gabba Gabba for our curiosity’s sake and watched her turn into a zombie at the ripe age of 3 months. 

As I sat there trying to pump and TV being the only thing to take her mind off the fact I wasn’t paying attention to her, I tricked myself into believing that breast milk trumps TV. Of course, it’s not so bad since she’s getting the  superpowers from breast milk, right?  What's a little TV going to hurt?

So I resigned to the fact that we would watch some show made for babies for half an hour each morning.

Then one night Sir Sunderland nonchalantly says, “well you could just wake up earlier and do it before she wakes up.” We laughed, then looked at each other with the intensity of a man who’s just discovered gold. Eureka!

I now wake up with Sir Sunderland in the morning and get the job done in the wee hours of the morning before the baby wakes up.

 Now instead of watching crappy TV and preemptively creating a zombie child, we sit and eat breakfast together. Her relaxing on the boppy and me enjoying my bowl of frosted shredded mini-wheats.

And the best part of the entire deal? We’re awake in time to give Daddy kisses as he leaves for work. 

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Hello, Lauren! I'm visiting via The Lady Bloggers Society, and I was compelled to comment on this post. I got an uncomfortable chill when you described your 3-month-old's zombie impression when she was put in front of the TV. I love that you've chosen to approach your day differently to prevent that. Bravo! :-)