The funny side effects of watching television

My oldest son is CRAZY about arts & crafts, decorating for holidays, and doing any number of things in the kitchen - from squeezing slightly over-ripe oranges to make orange juice to helping with a batch of cookies to unloading the dishwasher.  I like this side of his personality because he's otherwise sort of a rugged sporty kid with a loud voice, tons of energy for things like sledding (pic from yesterday when we FINALLY had snow in our neighborhood) and basketball and wrestling with his dad and brother.  I think balance in all things is wonderful and worth encouraging.

But sometimes I wish he wasn't so into kitchen-stuff.  Because I don't really feel that guilty when I turn on the television to let my kids watch a few cartoons now and then.  But when Henry exclaims, "OH!  I WANT THAT!  WE NEED THAT!" every time the Bake Pop commercial comes on, or the new Cookie Magic commercial with play-dough colored cookie dough and a weird play-dough looking squeezy contraption, or now this new cupcake pan that makes cupcakes with a hole in the middle to fill with candy...then I start feeling the obvious reaction about the TV.  He watches too much!  Isn't it funny?  I don't mind if he watches a half hour of Transformers Prime or begs to watch the Caillou Christmas movie for the 80th time this winter.  But when he starts begging for things he sees advertised in commercials I feel we've got a problem.  (However I am also going to try combating the problem today by making a batch of cupcakes today that we'll happily scoop the centers out of ourselves with a grapefruit spoon to fill with lemon filling before frosting with a heaping mound of yummy frosting.  No special, expensive, tiny cupcake pan needed!)  :)

And then there's Eddie.  He likes Sesame Street.  There are way worse things for him to love, so I let him watch it a few days a week.  I noticed the last few days, though, that he likes to call Bert & Ernie, "Bernie."  Collectively.  Bernie.  He means both of them.  I say, "Do you mean Bert and Ernie?"  And he says, "Yah, Bernie."  And I can picture him as a teenager or adult meeting a couple of dudes named Bert and Ernie.  And Eddie, in his extreme confidence, impatience for things that take more time than they should, and sense of humor will call the two a collective, "Bernie."  And they'll correct him and once again rattle off their individual names and he'll smile in a really charming way and say, "Yeah.  Bernie!"  And they'll just have to go along with it because they will sense that his resistance is stronger than a stone fortress.

And here's a pic of cute and stubborn monkey himself.  I wanted to get him to stand by his brother and neighborhood friends for a pic.  Did he?  No.