Well, it seemed completely harmless. I mean, it wasn't even £5, no it was £3 I think. I was at the shops, you know, buying FOOD and things we needed like loo roll and juice, fruit, veg, healthy things. Oh, but they had a couple of Christmas things I thought we should have. Yes, that would be nice, a Christmas Stocking. Everyone needs more of those, right?
Well, as I was queueing and getting ready to pay I saw the Christmas display at the end of the counter with some kid's DVDs. I browsed through them and declined to get Bob the Builder (Little Poppet just does not have any interest in a career in construction- oh well, add that to the list of other career choices she has decided against, such as baby modelling), Sam the Fireman was a contender for about a second. Then it was between the Christmas Wiggles DVD and The Big Red Car, also by the Wiggles. I mean for £3 you have to buy at least one, right? Beware, it sounds all innocent but then you play it.
Okay, no we can't wait five days for Christmas, we kind of suck that way. On Christmas morning when you all are watching your children happily tearing open their bevy of gifts we sit humbly watching her open the only gift we couldn't give in advance (well, we don't buy the batteries until Christmas Eve and then there is assembly. No one actually assembles their kid's gifts in advance do they? Isn't part of the Christmas tradition watching your child crying as you desperately try to read the instructions - conveniently written in Chinese - attempting to put it together in less than two days? No? oh well) and reminiscing with her about all the cool stuff she's been getting each day for the past few weeks.
So, we pop in the DVD and think, 'I wonder if she'll like this - it does usually take a few viewings for her to like anything so we'll keep trying'. Sigh...
I sit here now, recalling fondly the other shows we used to watch; our imported from the US Sesame Street DVDs, our sweet little Kipper (who incidentally we have a couple of those DVDs in the post from ebay for Christmas as well), Maisy and Pingu. Ah the joyous times we've had watching these shows. Little Poppet learning letters and dancing with them all.
In true 'it's a woman's right to change her mind' fashion, those have been discarded like a summer holidays' romance. The Wiggles are in town. Well, they were last summer anyway - before we knew they ruled the universe or would have paid any mind to them. No, we cry in the morning until they are played and then the giggles and smiles and appropriately, wiggling begins. Then, perhaps when they are finished we will play an alphabet or counting DVD later in the day. What's that? No, you simply can't go on without... the Wiggles?
So, in roughly two days we now know all the lyrics by heart. Okay, they write songs simply so kids can learn them but it still in some small way seems disgraceful that we know them all. We don't eat or sleep without them and now when Little Poppet talks or makes any movement in her sleep it is startlingly Wigglesish in nature. I'm fairly certain she's said 'Wake up Jeff' in her sleep.
Alas, two toys she used to ignore or just throw across the room have new importance. They are both ... yep, red cars. I'm going to have to search ebay for Wiggles toys now I'm guessing. I don't know how long Elmo is going to last now that there is a yellow, blue and purple wiggle. Thank heavens he's red so we can at least pretend he's Murray if she starts to reject him.
I should mention, Pingu isn't a complete waste though. At least she understands the pinginese language. We didn't realise she spoke it until we bought that DVD. If only we could buy more toys and DVDs with just a fish for currency.
Did I mention our neighbours? No? Well, I don't know what I'm going to do next time we have a play date with them. The husband is - no joke - Anthony's (the blue Wiggle) TWIN/Doppleganger/double. He even sounds like him (okay, he sounds slightly more British than Australian but the voice is similar). I expect Little Poppet will try to make him point his fingers and twist and do 'the flap' with her.
I won't mention the fact that I've also googled everything about The Wiggles and know more about them than I do about myself now either.
£3... I mean, for £3 you really HAVE to buy it, right? Sigh.
