Thank Goodness for "The Wiggles"

I would never have guessed that I would be thanking an all-male Australian band for helping me get through the day, but there it is....

For those of you who don't know - "The Wiggles" are 4 Australian guys (plus a couple of minor other characters) that sing silly songs, dance, and generally act silly for a half hour a day on playhouse disney. Unfortunately it's on at the same time as Sesame Street, but thanks to the magic of Tivo - I can record one-week of sesame street, and then the next week of the wiggles, and have enough episodes of each to get me through those rough days, like today. This works especially well since Cara appears to like the shows more and more when they are repeated. It's like when I was 8 or so, and watched "The Princess Bride" more than two dozen times one summer - it got better every time!

I know, I know, I'm a horrible mother for letting my daughter watch any television at all... but hey, it's not like I'm letting her watch "Deadwood" - although I've been tempted some days... there are times I feel very much like talking like Al Swerengen.

And Cara absolutely loves the Wiggles, but then, what's not to like for a one-year-old. They wear bright colors - the songs they sing are very repetative, and about things like drinking water and driving a red car - and they have a pirate who wears magic buttons (whose theme song I can't get out of my head --- ever!).

So, why am I thanking them today? Well - Cara had a bit of a rough night. She woke up around midnight, and couldn't get back to sleep for a while. Whenever she has a bad night, the day after is usually a wash, if not worse. We did go to the music class -which she enjoyed - and then went down for her nap. But for whatever reason she only napped for 45 minutes (her usualy nap is at least 2 hours, and sometimes as long as 4 hours) - so this meant that she was super cranky by late afternoon. This is not a girl who does well without sleep. I would have put her down for a second nap - but she wasn't really tired until after 4:30 - and if she napped then, she's be awake until 10 o'clock at night - throwing schedules off world-wide.

So, in order to keep her happy I tried all the tricks - we had snacks, we had friends over, we went for a walk (which included a 10 minute crying session after she bonked herself on the head with her sippy-cup) - but she was just not happy. When we got back from the walk, I sat her down on the couch, got her some goldfish (the ultimate one-year-old comfort food), and turned on the wiggles. We watched 2 episodes (about 45 minutes worth), which managed to get me to dinner time without a major tantrum. It may not seem like much, but when you have a cranky baby, this is a major accomplishment.

So, if it takes me a wiggles episode or two (or 5), to make sure I have a relative tantrum-free day - it's totally worth it.