limiting television

Just a short post to say that we are in the midst of a horrendous illness.  Vicki Jo has hand, foot and mouth disease, which is a virus that causes fever, blisters around the mouth, palms, and soles of feet, rash on the backside and lower back, fatigue, and apparently hatred and anger in her case.  There is no medicine but fever reducer (which may not even be a good idea anyway) - you just have to let it run its course.

I think we are on the downward slope of it, but it has been simply wretched.  No sleep, long awakenings in the middle of the night, nothing seems to make her feel comforted, no foods seem good to her.

Last night, I got desperate.  I popped in Toy Story, which seemed appropriate enough for a toddler.  I've been meaning to watch it anyway, as the next in my 100 in 1000 series.  We pretty much never turn on the television when Vicki is awake.  Especially since we moved, and have no cable (and not even very good public access - it's like we live in a signal-sucking zone), I really haven't watched TV at all, even after she goes to bed.  It's not so bad.  I don't feel deprived!

So, I turned on the movie, hoping that she would be entranced by this forbidden fruit and calm down for a little while.  What did she do?  Hopped down from my lap, walked over the Playstation, pressed the eject button, pulled out the DVD, and brought it to me.  Then she took the remote control and pressed the red button to turn the television off.

I've become my own worst enemy.  My child hates television!  It could be worse, I guess.

Mama!  Don't you know TV is bad for babies?