Sometimes I really miss watching TV.

I miss sitting down, having anticipated a new show all week, and anxiously watching. I don’t miss commercials (DVR, will you marry me? I’ll have a million of your babies.) I don’t really get to watch TV anymore. I have about 3 weeks worth of Day’s of Our Lives unwatched, and I haven’t yet caught up on last weeks Gossip Girl or One Tree Hill. Sigh.

And it’s not because I’m too busy to watch them. It’s not because I don’t want to watch them.

It’s because a toddler now controls the remote. How did that HAPPEN??

I started to notice it when C was about 18 months old. He has always liked the Backyardigans(kill me now), so if I needed to hop in the shower, or do dishes or home work I could pop it on and he was set. He was always limited on the amount of TV he watched and it wasn’t a huge deal.

That all changed. Suddenly, you would put an episode on and he would go into an epic meltdown and start handing the remote back to you. My 18 month old was picking the episode. Not cool, not cool at all. So for the next month or so, we watched ONE episode…over and over and over.

It hasn’t gotten any better. I am not proud to admit that my little man watches too much TV. He does. Having kids 18 months apart, being in school and working makes it so there are times during the day when I HAVE to be able to sit and get stuff done. When J was a newborn, it was the only way I survived him having colic and an 18 month old. My kids don’t nap at the same time, which means when the baby goes down for his long nap in the morning, I often use the TV as a way to keep C out of my hair.

I hate it.

I wish I could be using that one on one time with him better, but I have to get my work done. I just have to. Now he doesn’t sit in front of the TV with a glazed look in his eye doing nothing. He is building blocks and racing cars, but the TV keeps him occupied and in the living room.

The problem is what happans when you turn the TV off, or *GASP* change the channel to something that doesn’t make me want to chuck the flat screen through the window.

We are talking meltdowns like WHOA. It is crazy. Then, because my patience is low from having an almost 8 month old who apparently doesn’t need sleep, I give in and put it back on for “Just one more show”. I’m sure you can see where this is going.

I hate the TV battle, hate it. I am almost relieved that he will be at his nanny’s house a few days a week and occupied by her son, hopefully that will help break him of the want to have it on all the time.

In the meantime…the kid almost knows more numbers in Spanish than English. Damn Dora.