Gamer Mom & Other Wacky Quirks

I LOVE this list! It says everything I would say about these shows. I've banned most of these shows in my home. Here's a taste:

Teletubbies

When the subject of stupid children’s shows comes up, Teletubbies usually springs up somewhere in the back of your mind. There’s a reason for that; it’s because it really is one of the absolute worst offenders on this list. Aside from the obvious creepiness — they’re extremely creepy — this show is a complete waste of broadcast time. It was apparently meant for a “pre-school” audience, but wound up having a fan base mostly made up of college-aged potheads — and even they said it was creepy. The four main characters run around, in a morbidly-obese ignorant bliss, basically doing nothing all day long, while occasionally stopping to worship their sun-god which is apparently an infant. It makes absolutely no sense, and kids who watch it aren’t developing anything in their heads except for a mold-like mush.

See the rest of the list here.

Well, I've passed the gaming gene on to the kids. At ages (almost) 6 and 4, they're really "into" the gaming world. They play age appropriate games, of course, but they play them with all the vigor of a 34 year old man playing "Call of Duty"...I'm looking at you Dear Hubby.


It's so amusing to me to watch them evolve as gamers, too. I never realized how easily it would come to them. Maybe it's because the Wii is so intuitive and the DS has several titles aimed at their age group. All I know is that my (almost) 6 year old son can plop down with a brand new game, and just start playing as though it was his 100th trip into that universe. It's also extremely amused at The Boy's frustration with me when I tried to "help". Now, mind you, I've played TONS of video games, I know my way around a WiiMote, but The Boy was not impressed with my skills. He would sigh and gasp and occasionally give me the MOOOOOOOM! And I smiled.

So I have one of the coolest toys for my kids. It's the Fun n' Foam Factory by Buzz Bee Toys. I bought it last year on a clearance and I LOVE it. The thing is hilarious. Every time I fire that thing up, I wish that I had one when I was little. Here's a "review" video of it...



Now, I've found a new gizmo that I NEED. It's a bubble fogger! It fills bubble with fog. I'm not sure why I need it, but I do. The video below is kind of grainy, but you get the picture.

I've never had any delusions that I'm the only mom in the world who plays video games. In fact, I'm actually surprised there aren't more of us out there promoting the fact that we are "Gamer Moms". Fact is, I grew up in the perfect time to be absorbed into video gaming and so did a lot of other moms. I had an Atari 2600 (actually, I still have it), then NES (also still have it) and so forth and so on. Gaming was a huge part of my life. I'd go to school, go to dance lessons, come home and play Mario. One of the funniest photos of me as a kid is one my mom took of me playing Nintendo while still wearing my dance outfit (no I won't post it...ugh...how embarrassing). So, today I thought I'd share with you links to other "Gamer Mom" websites. We're all a little different, but there's a kinship for sure.



Gamermom.com got the best url and she's been blogging for a few years now...at least that's what I can tell from her archives.



This Gamer Mom is the "mother of all news, views and casual game reviews". While not updated recently, there is still a ton of good stuff there.



There was a nice little article on WomenGamers.com called "Confessions of a Gamer mom". At the end there are a couple of links to more Gamer mom articles as well.


Now on to your regularly scheduled geeky links...


An ex-Jack Sparrow spills on his life at the Magic Kingdom
Read the above article. It's pretty cool. I may or may not have mentioned that way-back-when, I worked at Disney World. While I wasn't a character, I had an unusual job and I performed all day long. Granted, I got to be myself, but still, I was in my own mini-spotlight. The oddest thing about the article is when he talks about the Annual Passholders. It's odd because I had almost forgotten about them. It's so true though, these people would come to the parks day after day and they quickly became regulars. I didn't like or dislike them more than any other guests, but I always found it a bit odd that they came to the same attraction so ofter and regularly.



Did you know there's a Pac-Man movie in development? Apparently, it's true.


And finally, 25 Ways to Tell You're Grown Up.

I have a million things to blog about and for some reason, no time to blog them. Weird. Rather than throw a million random things out there all at once, slap my hands and call it a post, I figured it’d be better if I just choose ONE topic for today and write about it. So…today…you…get…BABIES!!! Alright, not all babies, just birth announcements. No, I’m not having more kids, but EVERYONE around me seems to be. I’m awash with pregnant people and they all need advice. No, I don’t dole it out randomly, they ask…a lot. Maybe it’s because my kids are younger and I still remember a lot of the details that parents of teens may have forgotten, who knows. Because of all the prego hormones near me, I’ve got babies on the brain and products that I really have no use for are suddenly interesting to me again. That’s how I found the coolest birth announcements EVER!

Rattle-N-Roll makes concert poster style announcements. How cool is that!?! Two of the pregos I know are musicians and these would be perfect for them. But, they’d be perfect for any concert/music enthusiast.

Proud Parent Publications makes newspaper style announcements. Baby can be the cover of the sports page as the “New Acquisition”.

Little Big Man can put your little one on a ticket!

Surfing Baby can make little Suzie a cover girl or turn Stanley into a golf pro on customized magazine covers.

Cool Dog Productions makes video announcements that can be viewed on the web.

I had always heard the stories of kids asking a million "why" questions or constantly wondering "are we there yet?". I had also always put those stories aside as exaggeration. Surely, I thought, kids ask questions, but it couldn't be the endless stream they are portrayed to be...boy was I wrong. My three year old busted that right out of the water. On our 2 day journey to and from fabulous Walt Disney World the "are we there yet?" question only popped up about 9437 times. Ok ok, that's an exaggeration...he only asked it every mile we drove while he was awake. The drive is some 1200+ miles and he slept for approximately 40 minutes a day in the car so...well...you do the math.

When he wasn't asking the famous "are we there yet" question, he was asking another question. This one is a little more difficult to answer at many times. He follows every statement ANYONE makes by asking "Why?". This can follow ANY statement. I've even tried changing the way I talk to him by including a reason and still he asks "why".

Here's a sampling:

In the car on the way to Disney...
Boy: Are we there yet?
Me: Nope, we won't get to Disney until tomorrow
Boy: Why?

After we've returned home from Disney...
Boy: Can we ride Haunted Mansion?
Me: Next time we go to Disney we'll ride it.
Boy: Why?

Boy has also taken up the new game of using his new favorite word: "Ass"
Boy: Mommy if you do that again I'm going to spank your aaasssssss.
Me: That is a bad word, you'd better not say that again or daddy will wash your mouth out with soap.
Boy: Why?

So, now that I've finished my own anecdotes about kids and the famed questions, I'll share some good "Why" links...

The Why Files answers the "why" behind things. Maybe I should peruse this site so I have answers to the millions of "whys" I'm sure to hear in the upcoming months.

If the boy continues to ask "why" maybe I'll send him to Why, Arizona because he's making me feel like I live in Hell, Michigan

When he's older, I'll teach him to use Ask for Kids. Then he can find out for himself.

"Why" isn't covered in this article, but it could be useful down the road.

If you want to find out why kids ask "why" check this out and this.

And with that I send you off to ask your own "whys" of the world.