Serious Insomniac Babies

A few nights ago, I came home from work at around midnight. Usually, all are asleep and I go about my routine of taking the dog out and poking around on the web while sipping a beer or two. This night, however, I opened the door to hear my young three year old welcome me with, "Daddy, you're home." I figured that maybe he was sick and that surely his mom was about, readying some medicine for him. Nope. Everyone else was still asleep. He had just woken up and decided to come into the living room to watch a little TV and wait for me to come home.

On the TV was an old favorite show of mine, M*A*S*H. And my little guy had just politely been sitting on the couch watching it. One has to wonder what he had to make of it. No Dora or Diego to be found exploring the mountains of South Korea. Blue was not looking for clues in Klinger's tent. This was unfamiliar territory for Joshua. I guess he assumed it was a funny show, thanks to the laugh track, but I wonder how he was following it. A kid's just gotta watch TV sometimes, I guess.

A couple of nights later, my wife got up in the middle of the night and heard a sound coming from the living room. She ventured down the hallway at 4 A.M. and peered around the corner to find both children, Joshua and his little sister, sitting properly on the couch watching C-SPAN. I'll decide he's watching too many Senate debates if he starts wishing to be referred to as "the gentleman from Tennessee."

I guess it just comes down to this: The kids know how to turn on the television but they don't quite know how to change the channels away from what mom or dad were watching earlier in the evening. And at the hours they seem to be keeping, I guess it's best that we can't afford any movie channels.