Art (a.k.a. "Noggin") Clearly Does Not Imitate Life

My child is addicted to several shows on Noggin, not the least of which is "Little Bill," a cartoon conceived by Bill Cosby that runs during the dinnertime hour and therefore allows me, when I'm feeling inspired, time to make something more involved than frozen nuggets.

Haha. "When I'm feeling inspired." I crack myself up.

In general, "Little Bill" remains one of the few shows on that station that doesn't make me want to poke my eyes out with a spoon. It's a wholesome show, despite the B-Master and my efforts to corrupt it. For example, that episode in which Little Bill's siblings had to convince Little Bill that Mommy and Daddy needed some "alone time?" We snickered like 13-year-old boys for half an hour.

"Little Bill" also does not utilize any puppet-children or spastic dance sequences (ahem, "Lazytown"), and the story lines are fairly realistic.

But I must express my disappointment with one of last week's episodes (undoubtedly a repeat, but new to me), in which Little Bill refuses to take a nap.

"I don't wanna take a nap!" he yells.

"I know you feel grumpy right now, but you'll feel much better after a nice looong nap," his mother says. You know she's fantasizing about the gin and tonic she will enjoy during the nice long nap.

"NOOOOO!!" Little Bill screams, as he jumps out of bed.

"Now, now, back in bed," his mother cooes.

At that point I turned to the TV and went, "Whaaaaaat??" I can guarantee that there will be no cooing on my end if the Munchkin ever screams at me and tries to vacate the premises at nap time. She won't have time to run before I drop-kick her onto the mattress place her gently back in bed and leave her in there to cry it out.

That's what a real mom would do, in my opinion. I don't know about you, but my kid's nap time is a necessary tool for my own self-preservation.

From there, the plot just got worse.

"If I have to take a nap, I'm running away!" Little Bill yells.

So what does the rest of the family do? They decide to rally and "show Little Bill how much we love him." As he goes to each family member in turn to tell them he's running away, they all say something to the effect of, "Okay, but I'm coming with you, because I love you and I want us to be together."

Oh, please. The B-Master and I have already agreed that if (or when...let's be realistic here) the Munchkin decides to run away, I'll pack her bag while he books our tickets to Vegas. We'll even drop her off at the bus station on our way to the airport.

Because that's how much we love her.

:-)